


Corporate Affairs

by ZVArmy



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Drama, F/M, Love, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-08-05 22:29:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 41,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16376195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZVArmy/pseuds/ZVArmy
Summary: As one regime departs the scene on Monday Night Raw, a new one replaces it. The incoming General Manager has someone specific in mind to carry the Universal Championship, and a plan in place to make it happen. But will the plan have unintended consequences of a romantic nature?





	1. Chapter 1

Judging by the look on her face, Stephanie McMahon couldn't quite figure out how she had ended up in the position she currently found herself in. It was the night after Survivor Series, and she was in the ring at the start of Raw, about to hand a resignation letter to her father.

The person standing just behind the curtain that separated the backstage areas from the arena was watching on the monitor. Stephanie's stupidity was worth a shake of the head. What had she been thinking, talking her brother into putting their Commissioner positions on the line at Survivor Series? Only an idiot would do something like that without a backup plan, and a backup plan to that backup plan. But not Stephanie, apparently. She had gambled, Raw had lost, and now she was out of job, much to the delight of the fans.

"Steph, this isn't easy for anyone," Mr McMahon said. The truth, of course, was that it was only tough for him and his daughter. No one else would be sad to see Stephanie go, including the person watching the monitor. The opposite, in fact. In one person's misfortune lay opportunity for another. That was the way of the world.

Eyes closed, looking like she might be about to cry, Stephanie handed the sealed envelope to her father, thereby confirming that she had stepped down as Raw Commissioner. At least she was a woman of her word.

Even better, as far as the person backstage was concerned, was the fact that Kurt Angle had also chosen to leave his job, citing in his resignation tweet (since apparently that was an acceptable way of conducting official business) that as he had been appointed while Stephanie was Commissioner, he felt it was right for him to go, so as to allow whoever was incoming to make as fresh a start as possible.

"Thank you," Vince said with a sigh as he accepted the envelope, while everyone else in the arena started chanting "Yes!".

With that, it was time for Stephanie to take the walk of shame. She left the ring and climbed down the steps. It took that long for the inevitable chorus of 'Na Na Hey Hey' to start raining down on her. Predictable or not, the person watching the monitor had to smile.

Even more amusing than the song was the fact that Stephanie had chosen to walk up the ramp, not down the side of it. She would be walking back through the curtain any moment now.

Sure enough, the curtain opened and Stephanie walked backstage, looking very upset. Her expression quickly changed when she saw who was there. Her nose did that strangle wrinkling thing that seemed to happen to it sometimes as she looked down at the other person.

"What are you doing here?" Stephanie demanded.

"Taking your job," came the simple yet cutting reply.

Stephanie looked horrified by the thought, but it was none of her business anymore. She stormed off, maybe before losing it all together.

It struck the person Stephanie had just spoke to in that moment that no matter how good a General Manager or Commissioner was in WWE, their tenure always ended in failure. This was definitely not a time for thoughts like that, though.

Out in the ring, Vince had started having a set-to with the fans about them disrespecting his daughter. He was only making things worse by raging, so he gave up and moved on.

"As you all know, after Survivor Series last night, Kurt Angle also chose to resign his position as Raw General Manager. For that reason, and with time being of the essence to have some sort of authoritative structure in place, I have decided that Raw will indefinitely proceed without a Commissioner. I will shortly be announcing a new General Manager, and that General Manager will have full rights and privileges to run Monday Night Raw, in conjunction with Constable Baron Corbin."

Corbin's name was booed by the fans. The person waiting to be announced tended to agree. It would have been better if Corbin had also gone. But no, he was made of sterner stuff than that - sterner stuff than Kurt Angle.

Vince rambled on for another minute or so, before finally getting to the point. "Ladies and gentlemen, the new General Manager of Monday Night Raw... Zelina Vega!"

Behind the curtain, Vega delighted in the boos that she heard in reaction to her name and her new theme music. As if she cared what those idiots thought of her. The exact opposite was true. They could boo her all they wanted, and it would make not one iota of difference to her. That was what set her apart from people like Angle. She had no intention of giving 'the people' what they wanted. She would be running Raw they way she wanted, and those who didn't like it? They could wipe their asses with their opinions.

Vega walked through the curtain, the booing intensifying as she emerged onto the stage. She made sure to convey her contempt with her facial expression. I'm simply better than these sub-humans, she told herself, dismissing them all out of hand.

On her way over to the entrance ramp, Vega happened to set eyes on the commentary team for a second. It seemed like the three morons sitting there were losing their minds over her appointment. While she had to admit that on first thought, it might seem like it came from left field, Vega knew why Vince had shaken her hand on a deal earlier in the day, regardless of whoever else might have applied for the position. She had what so many people these days lacked: A spine. Back in the day, Vince had possessed one of his own, so she imagined that was why he respected the quality in her.

Vega made her way to the ring. It didn't escape her attention that McMahon didn't bother to hold the ropes open for her to enter. Asshole, she thought, hiding it behind a gracious smile as he offered her his hand.

"Don't screw this up," he said as they shook.

Inspirational words if ever I heard any, Zelina thought dryly. "I don't screw up," she said as he handed over his microphone.

With that, the Chairman left the ring, and Vega's music faded out. She found herself standing in the ring, alone, in front of an arena full of twelve thousand idiots, who were booing and jeering her. No, not  _an_  arena, she corrected herself.  _Her_  arena. She ran this place now. There hadn't been much time to prepare a speech, so she let fly from the hip.

"The McMahon era is over," she proclaimed definitively. "The Angle era is over. This is my show now, and it will be run my way, by my rules. Things are going to change around here. People who are sitting there backstage considering themselves at the top of the tree here on Raw? They may now find themselves at the bottom. People who feel they have been unfairly held back? They will be given a chance to impress me. And people who have been hogging the main event spotlight for way too long? I'm turning your spotlight off. I'm talking to you, Roman Reigns," she added.

Yes, of course you love that one, Vega thought as the fans suddenly erupted, cheering her. Naturally, she hadn't said it to garner a reaction from the sheep. She had said it because it was important to stamp down her authority right from minute one. People like Reigns and the rest of The Shield thought they were above authority; thought they could do what they wanted, when they wanted. Well, no longer.

"Vince McMahon gave me this job," Vega went on, "because I told him to his face that I would take much of what his daughter had done these past few years and throw it in the trash. I think part of him liked that. But whether he liked it or not; whether the men and women back there like it or not; whether you people like it or not? You all need to realise the one simple truth that's now staring you in the face: The Vega Era has begun."

Zelina dropped her microphone, and whoever was responsible in the production truck had the good sense to hit her music right away.

All in all, it had gone very well, she thought as she left the ring and headed for the back. Stephanie had resigned without kicking up a fuss, Vince had confirmed her appointment without any last minute second thoughts, and she had been able to make her opening address without anyone having the temerity to interrupt. Frankly, she had expected that to happen, but she was happy that things had turned out differently.

Moments later, Vega was backstage, on her way to what was now her office. She soon saw that she wasn't going to finish the journey uninterrupted. Baron Corbin, Raw's Constable, was standing in the hallway waiting for her, and of course, as always seemed to be the case, there was a cameraman there ready to capture their first encounter for the audience.

Naturally, Vega had known she would have to allow the Constable to introduce himself to her at some point. He could have at least given her a chance to get into her damned office, though! And what kind of title was Constable, anyway? That was going to have to change, she decided on the spot.

"Zelina, let me be the first to congratulate you," Corbin offered as she approached him. What surprised her a little was that his smile and the sentiment sounded quite genuine. She had expected him to kiss her ass, and she would have seen through that right away.

"Thank you, Baron," she replied, opting to be gracious.

"I wanted to assure you that I'm delighted to be working with you as Constable. I'm glad Kurt Angle has gone. Boy, am I glad. Anyway..."

Vega's fiery temper had already been triggered, and she found herself pointing a finger all the way up at him. "Get something straight in your head," she snapped. "You do not work  _with_  me. You work  _for_  me. And you are no longer Constable Corbin. It sounds like something from a badly-written comic book. You can be Deputy General Manager or something, but you are no longer Constable. Am I in any way unclear?"

"No, Zelina. I mean, ma'am. I mean, boss," Corbin floundered. He had been taken aback by the volley he had received. Oh well, Vega thought, at least everyone knew where they stood now. She decided that while she was on a roll, she would demonstrate her ability to delegate. She barked out an order for Corbin to go and find a certain superstar, and bring them to her office.

As Corbin hurried off to do as he had been told, Vega continued along the hallway and entered her office for the first time. Well, this was still Angle's office, really. Although he had quit the night before, the backstage crew, in absence of other instruction, had setup the office as if nothing had changed. For some reason, Kurt had always liked to stand in the corner of the room, in front of a monitor. What was wrong with the man?

"No, this won't do at all," Zelina muttered to herself, looking at the sparse and pitiful furnishing with a shake of her head. She opened the door again and barked at the nearest crew member. "You. Over here."

"Yes, ma'am. How can I help?" the young guy asked, hurrying over.

Vega ushered him into the office and encompassed it all with a sweeping hand gesture. "Next week, I want none of this crap, you hear me?"

"Yes, ma'am. How would you like it?"

"I want a leather couch. A big one. A comfortable one. I want a coffee table, and on the coffee table, I want a selection of fine food and wine, and I mean vegan food and wine, understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," the parrot said again.

"And I want a better monitor than that piece of trash. Get me a big one, and have it put on the wall."

The guy nodded. "Anything else, ma'am?"

"Coffee, and quick about it," Vega instructed, deciding she had no more additions to demand for the office at the moment.

The crew member rushed out of the door so fast that he nearly collided with Corbin and the man Vega had summoned, who were about to enter.

"You wanted to see me?" the new arrival asked. His tone was pleasant enough, but he did look intimidating as he towered over Vega. She supposed that was because they had at one time definitely not been on the same page. But that had been on NXT, when she had only been the manager of Andrade Almas. Now she was the manager of a whole brand, and that meant things were a lot different. Besides, Almas has unfortunately been left behind on Smackdown, and there was nothing that could be done about that for the time being. Shaking off the irrelevant train of thought, Vega addressed the man in front of her.

"Yes, I did want to see you. What I have to say is quite simple. I don't want Roman Reigns as Universal Champion on my show. You're the champion I want. I assume you don't have a problem with my line of thinking?"

A cocky smile appeared on Drew McIntyre's face. "No problem at all," he assured her.


	2. Chapter 2

The door of Zelina Vega's office crashed open, without anyone having shown the courtesy of knocking first. The suddenness of it made the new General Manager jump and almost drop her phone. Even worse was the fact that it was The Shield who strode into the room, with Dean Ambrose in the lead.

"Wait, where is she?" Dean asked, looking clean over her head and scanning around the room with a confused look on his face.

"Down there, look," Seth said, pointing at her.

Vega felt her hands balling into fists. Height jokes were the last thing she had patience for at the moment, and The Shield were a close second. She was only an hour into her new job, and it was already severely testing her patience. When she had taken the positon she had underestimated the amount of pettiness and stupidity she would have to deal with, that much was already apparent. "What do you want?" she demanded in an icy tone.

"What we want is to make our position clear," Roman said seriously. The time for jokes was now over. "We heard what you said out there in the ring, when you chose to mention my name in particular in your little tirade. You ought to know that you're by no means the first to try and take on me, or take on The Shield, and you won't be the last."

"You see, going after one of us means you're going after all of us," Seth added. "And if that's the hill you want to choose to die on, you can go right ahead."

"We'll be happy to oblige," Dean finished.

With the three men standing around her, towering over her, Vega still didn't feel intimidated. What she felt was anger at their temerity to stand in her office and speak to her like that. "If it's war you want, it's war you're going to get," she informed them in a threatening manner. "You're going to learn that The Shield are not the top dogs on Raw anymore, I am."

"Top dog, huh?" Seth said doubtfully. "To me it seems like your bark is bigger than your bite."

Vega had had enough of their smarmy attitude, and she reacted on instinct. "Is that a fact? We'll see about that. The three of you are going to be in the main event tonight in a six man tag team match."

"Against who?" Dean asked in a dismissive manner.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Vega said smugly, successfully hiding the fact that she didn't actually have an answer to give him. She had let fly and made the match without actually having opponents lined up for The Shield. I guess that's my next order of business, she thought.

"It's not going to matter anyway," Dean told her. "Send out whoever you want. We'll embarrass them, and we'll embarrass you in the process."

"Might as well start The Vega Era as it's going to go on," Roman finished, mocking her with his tone.

"Oh, we'll be starting it the way it's going to go on," she fired back. "Now get out, before I change my mind and have you thrown out of the building instead."

"I'd like to see you try," Dean said, but Roman gestured towards the door with his head, and with each one of them giving the boss a parting glare, they retreated from the office.

When she was left alone, Zelina tried to calm herself down. She was letting The Shield get under her skin, which was of course the exact reason they had barged into her office. She had to be smarter than that. Taking a deep breath allowed her to calm down a bit. Three people were needed to face her new enemies in the main event. Drew McIntyre would be one. After their talk earlier, he was on-board with taking the fight to Reigns and his crew. Why would he not be, when his General Manager had handpicked him to be Universal Champion? Corbin could be the second man on the team. He was no friend of The Shield, and besides, he would do as he was told if he wanted to keep his job. That left only one person missing. Who else could be recruited?

Vega stood there considering the problem for a couple of minutes. What was needed was someone good enough to go toe to toe with The Shield, but without having their own ambitions for the Universal title that was earmarked for McIntyre. It was a very specific set of requirements, and no name was coming immediately to mind. Corbin might have been able to help, if he was there. Where had the idiot gotten to anyway?

Irritated, Vega walked out of her office and accosted a referee who happened to be walking past at the time. "Where's Corbin?"

"No idea, sorry," the referee replied with a shrug.

"I swear, I'm going to lose my cool before much longer," Vega growled.

"I can go find him for you?" the referee offered. It was the first time all night anyone had made themselves genuinely useful, and Zelina appreciated it.

"Yes, thank you," she replied.

Vega returned to the office and sat down on an uncomfortable steel chair, since that was all that was available this week. She savoured the silence of the room for a moment, realising that she had to get better at keeping her composure. Whether she was surrounded by incompetence, idiocy and insolence or not, she couldn't spend three hours a night worked up to the extent she had been during her first hour on the job. She would end up having a stroke or something at that rate. No, she had to use her strengths to her advantage, and her biggest strength was being smarter and more calculating than other people.

For that reason, Corbin escaped an angry reaction when he finally showed up a few minutes later. "Where have you been?" Vega asked without confrontation in her voice, standing up as he entered the office.

"I've been recruiting," Corbin announced proudly. A smile appeared on his face as he said it.

Vega's hopes were not high as to what she was about to hear, but she supposed he had at least shown some initiative. "Recruiting for what, may I ask?"

"For the battle against The Shield," Corbin said. "You already got McIntyre in on it. Obviously I'm in, so that left one more person needed to even up the numbers."

Now Vega was actually impressed. The guy did have a brain after all. Maybe he could prove to be an asset, not merely an inconvenience. He had been out there addressing the very problem that she herself had been pondering without success. "And you recruited someone?" she prompted.

Corbin nodded, then told her the name of the person who was willing to join their cause. Vega took it in for a couple of seconds, then nodded her approval. "Good work, Corbin. Maybe I underestimated you."

"I'm looking to prove that to you," he replied.

"You want to prove it to me? Make sure The Shield lose the main event tonight. I cannot have them winning on my first night and making me look stupid. It cannot happen, understand?"

Corbin nodded again. "Perfectly."

"Good."

Someone knocked on the office door, and it flew open before Zelina had the chance to respond. One of the backstage runners barged in, breathless from running. "Ma'am, you need to come. There's a fight going on in the ring."

Vega raised an eyebrow slightly and responded with heavy sarcasm. "I thought that was kind of the point?"

"Not a match, a fight," the runner emphasised. "Sasha turned on Bayley. They're tearing each other apart out there."

"We'd better break it up," Corbin advised.

Vega didn't need any clarification to realise that 'we' meant her. She sighed and gave the runner a withering look. "This had better be worth it."

With Corbin by her side, Zelina hurried out of the office and headed for Gorilla as quickly as she could walk in her heels. "You wait here," she told her deputy when they got there. She had no intention of looking like she needed Corbin there with her to impose herself on a situation.

"Hit my music," she ordered the production crew sitting in Gorilla without bothering to look at them. They obeyed her order without question, and her new theme began to play in seconds, in time for when she walked through the curtain, being greeted by more boos from the simpletons.

The scene that the General Manager found before her when she walked onto the stage could only be described as chaos. The ring was full of referees and a few members of the women's roster, who were doing their best to keep Bayley and Sasha apart. Vega had grabbed a microphone on her way through Gorilla, and she raised it as soon as her music stopped.

"Enough!" she shouted at Banks and Bayley. "That's enough! I don't know what differences the two of you have with each other, but what I do know is you're not hijacking my show with them. If you want to fight, you can do it next week, when you'll face each other one on one in a match. Now get the hell out of my ring!"

Guided by the referees and superstars, Sasha and Bayley were escorted out of opposite sides of the ring, still shouting threats and abuse at each other. Zelina glared down from the stage. Bayley had gotten out of the ring on the side closest to the entrance ramp, and started walking up it, looking pissed off with whatever had happened to start the fight. The look on her face reminded Vega of the last time Bayley had snapped and given Banks an ass kicking. It was pretty much the only time Vega had been impressed with what she had seen from Bayley. There was potential in that woman, if she could just leave all the hugs, headbands and childishness behind and get serious. That was something to contemplate.

Being General Manager wasn't just about running a show for three hours a week, that much was obvious. These were her people now, for better or worse. Part of the job was try and make the most of the talent she had available to her, since Raw was in competition with Smackdown. She decided in that moment that it was up to her to try and get more out of Bayley, who with the right guidance could undoubtedly make an excellent Women's Champion.

"I'm done with her! I'm done!" Bayley raged at Zelina when she approached, referring to Sasha and pointing down towards the ring to hammer the point home.

Vega responded by falling instep beside the taller woman and saying, "Come with me, Bayley. I think you and I should have a chat."


	3. Chapter 3

Even though her reign as Raw's General Manager was less than two hours old, a concrete idea was already starting to form in Zelina Vega's mind, in answer to a problem she had already realised she needed to address. While it was true that her new position afforded her power, she needed to be able to effectively project that power. The example that she pictured was political. The US President had a lot of power when it came to deterring people from stepping out of line, yet the President didn't project that power personally. No, it was projected by moving an aircraft carrier into a region, or by stationing troops on a border. In Vega's case, what she needed to effectively project her power was a small group of superstars who were loyal to her, and would obey her orders.

Currently pacing around Vega's office was a potential addition to that group of superstars, if it came to be. Potential was a big word at the moment, though. Bayley had a long way to go before she would make the grade required to work for Zelina. Hugging, high fives and Bayley Buddies certainly would not be the order of the day in that scenario. The obstacle, and it was a significant one, was getting Bayley to see that disavowing her old ways was the way to go if she wanted to move her career forward.

"Every time I trust her, she stabs me in the back," Bayley said raged as she continued pacing, referring to Sasha Banks. "Over and over it happens, and I always end up forgiving her. Not this time. Oh no, not this time. Wait until I get my hands on her next week."

"You want me to tell you how I see it, Bayley?" Vega asked, ignoring the ranting of the other woman.

"Right now? No," Bayley said heatedly. "What I want is a match with Sasha tonight. I don't even want to wait until next week."

"I think you've been being held back, and you're wasting your talent," Vega said, ignoring her again. Her words were designed to be cutting, and they had been delivered to have that exact effect.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Bayley demanded, finally paying attention.

"Exactly what I said. You're one of the best female wrestlers this company has ever had, yet what are you doing with that talent? You're out there tagging with Sasha Banks, who has stabbed you in the back multiple times, and you're out there making high five signs to the crowd and trying to hug people. What has that ever done for you? You've been Raw Women's Champion once. Once, Bayley. And you didn't even win it properly that time."

"I'm livid with Sasha, but I don't have a problem with the fans," Bayley insisted. "They've always been good to me."

Vega looked at her as if she was from another planet. "Are you serious right now? Where were the fans the one time you actually needed support, when you hurt your shoulder? You went out there to tell them about it and they booed you. The fans don't care about you, Bayley. And even if they did, is that why you're here in WWE? Are you here to be cheered, or are you here to win things? When you retire, do you want to look back and say you were a multi-time Women's Champion, or do you want to say, 'Well, the fans cheered me.'?"

The diatribe seemed to have gotten through to Bayley, at least to some extent. She still looked angry, but now maybe at herself as well as Sasha Banks. That was what Vega was going for, so she pressed on. "You could be Women's Champion on Raw, Bayley. And I don't mean winning it because someone interferes to help you, I mean winning it on your own, in your own right. To do that, you need to unleash the Bayley we all saw when you told Sasha she ain't shit. Where's that Bayley gone, huh?" she barked, getting in Bayley's face to fire her up.

"That Bayley is here," came the reply. It lacked much conviction.

Zelina took Bayley by surprise by shoving her hard in the chest. "You can do better than that!" she screamed.

Bayley reacted on instinct, pushing Vega back even harder, sending her falling onto her backside on the office floor. "Don't ever put your hands on me again!" Bayley yelled, looming over the General Manager. A second later, she realised what had happened. Vega had brought out the Bayley she wanted to see.

"Yes," Vega said slowly, nodding her approval from the floor. "That's more like it. What I want you to do is show up in that frame of mind next week. I'm going to make your match with Sasha no disqualification, and you're going to show me what you can do. Do that, and there's a place for you by my side. What do you say?" She offered her hand for Bayley to pull her up. Both of them knew that doing so would signal an agreement being reached between them.

For a moment, Bayley didn't seem to know what to do. Vega realised that renouncing everything she had stood for over the past few years wasn't an easy decision to take, understandably so. But it was a decision that needed to be taken. "It's time," Vega said emphatically, pushing the issue. "Let me help you become a champion. A real champion."

The General Manager's hand continued to hand in the air. For a moment, she wondered if Bayley was going to turn and walk out of the office, rejecting her. But then Bayley's expression hardened. She had reached a decision. Taking Vega's hand, she pulled her to her feet without saying anything.

"Good," Vega said, feeling fired up by what she had just achieved. "Now next week, you show me what Bayley can really do."

"I will," Bayley promised.

* * *

With the main event only moments away, The Shield were in the ring, awaiting their opponents. Behind the curtain, Zelina Vega was standing with the three men team she was going to send into battle on her behalf. She considered it to be of the utmost importance that a victory was achieved on this, her first night in office. She simply had to start off as she meant to go on, demonstrating that people who opposed her would be chopped down to size. Also, she felt it vitally important in terms of prestige to have the Universal Championship help by a member of the new team she was looking to form, namely, Drew McIntyre.

"Alright, I'll go out first and introduce you one by one," Zelina told them. "Let's spring some surprises on these idiots." She left it open to interpretation whether she meant The Shield or the fans.

Vega's music was cued for the third time in the night, and she walked onto the stage to the ever predictable boos. She made sure to convey with her facial expression that she didn't care in the least what the crowd thought of her.

"Allow me to introduce the three men I have handpicked to face The Shield in this six man match," she said without preamble. "First…"

McIntyre's music began to play, drawing more boos.

"The Scottish Psychopath, Drew McIntyre!" Vega announced as he walked onto the stage to join her, looking more than ready for the battle he was about to get into.

McIntyre's music faded out, being replaced by Corbin's before Vega got his name out. She wasn't all that annoyed by the poor timing, figuring that Baron's place on the team was hardly likely to have surprised many people anyway.

"Raw's Deputy General Manager, Baron Corbin!" she announced as walked over and slapped McIntyre on the shoulder in a gesture of partnership and nodded respectfully to Zelina.

"And their tag team partner," Vega said, building up to the one that really was going to be a surprise. There was a long moment of silent anticipation, for which she realised she owed credit to the production crew.

Then Tommaso Ciampa's music hit. The reaction was a rather unique mix of cheers, presumably people hyped up about the huge main roster debut, but mainly aggressive boos from people who regarded Ciampa as the most cold-hearted and nasty son of a bitch in WWE. As far as Vega was concerned, that made him the perfect addition to her stable.

Ciampa ignored the boos and abuse that were reigning down on him, as he always did, and slowly walked over to the woman who had just given him his main roster call up. Zelina's fiery passion was never far from the surface in anything she did in life, and she was well and truly fired up now, seeing these three individuals assembled together for the first time. "Yes, Ciampa! Let's do this," she yelled at him, offering her hand for their second shake of the night.

A man of few words, Ciampa simply accepted her hand and shook it. It wasn't a case of either one of them signing a pact with the devil. If anything, it was two devils signing a pact with each other.

* * *

_Earlier in the night_

"What is he even doing here tonight?" Vega asked Baron Corbin as they walked along a hallway towards the empty office where Tommaso Ciampa was apparently waiting to meet with her. Minutes before, Corbin had informed her that Ciampa was willing to join the team she was assembling, in exchange for a main roster contract.

"He knew there would be a new GM or Commissioner tonight, with Stephanie going," Corbin replied. "He figured there might be an opportunity in it for him."

"And so there is," Vega said quietly.

Shortly, they reached the office and Vega led the way inside, finding Ciampa sitting on the edge of an empty desk, waiting. He got up when she walked in. The man who had lost the NXT Championship at a Takeover event two nights earlier really was a mean-looking bastard, Vega thought as she looked him up and down. In fact, he simply was a mean bastard, and she liked that.

"Tommaso," she said as a simple greeting.

"Zelina," he replied with a distinct absence of emotion.

"Corbin here tells me you're willing to join the team I'm looking to form, in exchange for a Raw contract?"

"That's right," Ciampa replied. "I'm done with NXT. There's nothing for me there now. I want onto either Raw or Smackdown. With you in charge, I feel like Raw would be the better fit for someone like me."

Vega smiled slightly. "I think so too. But, forgive me," she said slowly, "loyalty isn't exactly the first word that springs to mind when I think of Tommaso Ciampa. I don't need a lone wolf, I need a team player."

Ciampa took a pointed look at Corbin. "He used to call himself the lone wolf, and he's standing next to you. I'm not much different to him. It's not a question of not having loyalty, it's a question of whether there's someone worthy of being loyal to. Johnny Gargano certainly wasn't worth it."

"But I am. Is that what you're saying?"

He nodded. "That's what I'm saying. You're talking about a team of Ciampa, Corbin and McIntyre, managed by Zelina Vega. No one is stopping that shit."

His phrasing was hardly eloquent, but it was a point well-made nonetheless. "Indeed," Vega said, rapidly considering how she wanted to play this. She definitely wasn't going to say that she would have to check with Vince McMahon what the procedure was for signing a new superstar, since she hadn't been told. Having Ciampa talking up her and her team and professing loyalty was one thing, but when it was all said and done, this was Tommaso Ciampa. She felt like she wanted something a little more cast iron than that.

"Here's what we're going to do," she decided. "You can debut on Raw in the main event tonight, taking on The Shield. Next Monday, we'll officially get you tied down to a one year contract. In that contract will be what I'm going to call a loyalty clause, meaning that if your loyalty to me disappears, so does your job. Fair enough?"

Ciampa's response was to extend his hand, signalling his acceptance of her terms.

"Alright," Vega said, feeling pleased with herself as they shook hands. The deal was done. Her team was quickly taking shape.

* * *

The main event had descended into chaos, with all six men fighting. Vega had chosen to retreat up the entrance ramp towards the safety of the stage, since the battle had spilled to the outside of the ring. Moments earlier, Reigns had taken out all of the other five men by hurling himself over the top rope to the outside, landing on all of them.

Things suddenly started to unfold very quickly. Reigns, Ambrose, Ciampa and McIntyre had all managed to struggle their way back into the ring. Meanwhile, on the outside, Corbin hit the End of Days on Rollins. That was one of the Shield trio dealt with, Vega thought with delight.

Only seconds later, Ciampa got the Project Ciampa on Ambrose. They were the two legal men in the match.

Seeing the danger as Tommaso made a cover, Reigns tried to rush over there to make the save, but McIntyre was also switched on to what was happening, and flew through the air to deliver a Claymore Kick meeting Reigns halfway and taking him out of the game.

The referee was already counting.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

The crowd groaned in disappointment. It was a total contrast to how Vega felt in that moment. The oh so vital triumph on her first night in charge had come to pass. She could hardly have hoped for more. She had formed a new team, and that new team had managed to defeat The Shield. Not many teams held that distinction, but hers was one of them! What a statement they had just made!

Vega made her way back down to the ring to celebrate, carefully walking around the unconscious Rollins at the bottom of the ramp. She got into the ring, where her three men were helping each other up after the war they had just been in.

When the men were back on their feet, Zelina stepped in between Ciampa and McIntyre and did her best to raise their hands in triumph. With such a big height difference, it wasn't easy for her, but she didn't care a bit. Her team was victorious. The Shield was defeated. Nothing else mattered. Only then did she realise that it was her music that was playing. Someone in the production truck was very clued up, she thought. After all, this was her win, and her night. It was about as good a start as she could have possible made to her time in office, and the smile on her face reflected that perfectly as the show went off air.


	4. Chapter 4

Working on breakfast and her first coffee of the morning, Zelina Vega was grateful that the hotel WWE had booked everyone into had its entire restaurant open for breakfast service. It had given her the opportunity to find a quiet corner to sit in, away from everyone else. She had plenty to think about, and she didn't need people's inane chatter all around her while she was trying to do it.

Only twelve hours into the job as Raw General Manager, she was quickly realising the enormity of the task she had taken on. To WWE's audience, it probably seemed like the GM worked three hours a week. The truth was totally different. This was a full time position. She had awoken to find emails in her inbox from WWE headquarters relating to the performance of the previous night's show, and one from Vince McMahon, reminding her to get her schedule of matches for next week's Raw to him as soon as possible. That was something she would have to start thinking about during the flight out to that night's live event.

Lost in her own world, Vega didn't notice Drew McIntyre approaching her table with a breakfast tray of his own. "Can I join you, boss?" he asked in the Scottish accent that always made Zelina swoon a little bit, not that she had any intention of letting him know that.

Deciding that it was for the best to be civil to a member of the team she had assembled the previous night, Vega gave a hand gesture to indicate that he could sit opposite her.

McIntyre put his tray down on the table and took a seat. "Thanks. I'd say we got off to a good start last night," he said pleasantly, referring to their victory over The Shield.

Vega tried to hide her distaste at the fact that he had meat and eggs on his plate. It didn't sit right with her vegan lifestyle. But, she reasoned, she could hardly impose that on him. "Yes, it was a good start," she replied, managing a smile. "A start is all it was, though. Make no mistake about it, The Shield will come firing back at us hard next week. One thing we can't do is take them lightly."

After finishing a mouthful of food, McIntyre said, "I was thinking the same thing." He paused for a second. "What I wanted to talk to you about was the Universal title. We agreed that the way forward is for me to beat Reigns for it. We both know I can take him in a match, so when are we going to do it?"

His direct manner made Vega smile. She felt as though they were like-minded people, and that meant they would be able to get along. She was smart enough to know that even though she was the boss, she needed loyalty and support from her chosen people if she wanted to get things done. For that reason, she gave a direct answer to his direct question. "TLC, the next pay-per-view, that's when we're going to do it. Unfortunately Brock Lesnar already has a title shot carrying over from Kurt Angle's time in charge. There is a signed contract to that effect, so there's nothing I can do about it. But what I can do is add you to the match, making it a triple threat between you, Lesnar and of course Roman Reigns. I know you can beat those guys, and you're going to go out there and do it," she finished with conviction.

"I absolutely can beat them," McIntyre replied. "I've already pinned Reigns more than once, and I know I can pin Lesnar, too. The only problem we might have is the triple threat stipulation. What if Reigns loses to Lesnar, or Lesnar loses to Reigns?"

Vega finished her coffee and cocked her head slightly to the side, fixing him with steely look. "You'll have to make sure that doesn't happen, won't you? But if it somehow does happen, one of those two losing doesn't remove you from the title picture."

"Good point," McIntyre said.

They ate for a few minutes in silence before a thought occurred to McIntyre. "I'm just thinking, we should have name for the new team. You, me, Ciampa and Corbin. There's no doubt we're going to dominate. A faction that strong should definitely have a name."

For now, Vega opted not to mention the possible addition of Bayley to the team. McIntyre was right about a name being required. Luckily, while she had been in bed trying to get to sleep the previous night, that exact problem had been on her mind. After some time, she had come up with a name that she intended to use.

"Way ahead of you on that one," she informed him with a smile. "We're going to be called The Vega Cartel."

"I like that," McIntyre said, slowly nodding his approval. "The Vega Cartel sounds like the dominant and fear-inspiring force we're going to be."

Vega's smile broadened. "Exactly what I was thinking."

Drew downed his coffee and stood up to go and refill his cup. "Can I get you another?" he offered.

"Yes, thank you. No cream, no sugar."

As he set off to fetch the drinks, Vega found herself watching him leave. She found him kind of intriguing. When he wasn't at work, fired up and aggressive, he was actually quite mildly-spoken and well-mannered. It was an attractive quality. Added to his obvious good looks, there was a lot to like about Drew McIntyre. But that wasn't what she needed to be thinking, she told herself, blowing it off. She was his boss, on the show as well as the Vega Cartel team. Getting used to those two roles was more than enough to occupy her for the time being.

* * *

After a few nights in the General Manager job, Vega was starting to get into the swing of things. She had submitted her schedule for the first Raw that had been her responsibility to book, remembering to leave some spare time to give her some freedom of movement to make or change matches on the night, as the show unfolded.

Live events were a lot easier to run. People by and large seemed to keep their issues with each other in check, bottling them up for the next Raw episode. All she really had to do was make matches with people the fans liked against people they didn't. That way, the idiots went home happy, and she didn't get any grief from McMahon or Triple H.

By and large, she could spend the live events sitting in her office, using her tablet to keep up to date with her work, or even better, catching up with her favourite shows on Netflix. There were worse ways to earn a living. Inevitably, though, people would sometimes come and see her for various reasons. One of the last people she expected to do that was Roman Reigns, so when he opened the office door, knocking on it as he entered, she was taken by surprise.

"Reigns. What is it?" she asked in hostile manner, setting her tablet aside for a moment, making her impatience perfectly apparent. Having a set-to with the man she was determined to take the Universal Championship from was not high on her desired list of things to do on this particular night.

Reigns closed the door, being careful not to bang it. Something about his demeanour already caught her attention. He wasn't there for a confrontation. "Since you're the GM, I'm supposed to report to you in the first instance."

"Report to me about what?" she asked, removing some of the attitude from her tone.

"Can I, uh…" Roman gestured to the other leather couch, set at a right angle to the one she was sitting on. He was asking if he could take a seat.

Vega nodded her permission, waiting for him to explain himself.

Reigns sat down and noticeably took a deep breath. He looked like he was lacking confidence – something that was quite remarkable for him, Vega thought.

"So, uh, not long back I had some tests done after a doctor's appointment," Reigns began, looking her in the eye. "This morning, I got the results, and the news isn't good. Eleven years ago, I had leukaemia. I was able to put it into remission quickly, but it's back."

Vega's mouth fell open. Of all the things she had been prepared to hear, that wasn't one of them. She was stunned. "You have leukaemia?" she asked, simply as a way of trying to process the news.

"Yes, I'm afraid I do," Reigns sighed. "So, although you clearly hate me, and I'm a long way from fond of you, I feel like I owe you an apology. You've only just taken over as GM, and I'm going to have to relinquish the Universal Championship and pull out of all my commitments for Raw. I need to go home to my family and take care of my health."

Zelina felt like she was close to tearing up. Sure, she was cold and calculating. She would be the first to admit that. In fact, she would openly boast about it, considering it a strength, not a weakness. But this wasn't about ruling a wrestling promotion with an iron fist. This wasn't about making a statement by taking a title from her show's big dog. This was a man's life at stake; a man with a wife and kids. And the fact that he felt like he owed her an apology for having cancer made her feel pretty awful about herself in that moment.

In addition to the personal aspect of it, this was a huge test for her as General Manager, only a few days into her regime. One of her people was sick, and she would be judged by everyone on how she handled it, from McMahon, to the people in her locker room, to the audience around the world. On the spot, she decided she would do everything she could to help Roman and his family, and not simply to make a good impression, either. She would do it because it was the right thing to do.

"I don't hate you as a person, Roman," she was able to say after swallowing hard. "What I said about you on Raw this week didn't come from me hating you as a person. I don't know you as a person. We've only met a handful of times. I said what I said because you currently dominate Raw, and I wanted to take that from you so that I became that dominant person. But this is bigger than Raw. Absolutely you have to go home and take care of things, and I want you to know I'll do whatever I can to help you."

Reigns looked down for a second, and Vega could tell that her words meant a lot to him.

"That's, uh, not exactly what I thought you would say," he said when he looked back up. "But thank you. That really means a lot to me. I do want to say, though, that you shouldn't take this as me telling you I'm retiring. I'm going to kick this thing's ass, and I will be back."

Vega nodded solemnly. "I honestly believe that."

"Thanks," Roman said seriously. "So, I guess that leaves us to sort out what you want to do with the Universal Championship. I can go get it now if you want me to hand it over?"

"This needs to be explained to the fans," Vega reminded him. Much as she held the audience in contempt, at the end of the day it was her job to consider at all times how they might react to anything to do with the Raw brand. This horrendous bombshell had to be dropped by someone. It had to be Roman's decision as to whether or not that someone was him or not. She didn't have to wait long for a decision.

"I'll do it," he said firmly. The way he said it led her to not even bother with a counter offer of doing it for him. He had already decided.

"Alright. I'll put you down for some time in the ring to start the show Monday night, and I'll remove you from all live events for the rest of the week. Go home and see your family."

Reigns stood up, and Vega did the same. "Thank you for how you've handled this," he said sincerely. "I didn't think you had a chance of making it as GM. By these past few minutes have changed my mind about that. Just don't be such a bitch all the time when you're on TV."

There had been a hint of humour in the final sentence, and it wasn't lost on Vega, who responded with a smile. "I'll take that under advisement. And I'll see you Monday."

"You will. Thanks again. I appreciate it." Reigns offered his hand.

Vega accepted his handshake. They didn't see eye to eye, and probably never would, but at least now there was respect between them. "You take care," she offered in parting as he headed for the door.

"Will do," he said.

And then he was gone, closing the door behind him. Vega was left looking at the door, feeling numb. She couldn't imagine what it would be like if it was her or a member of her family in the position he now found himself in. It was awful, and her heart went out to Roman. "Jesus Christ," she muttered to herself.

It felt bad enough now. What would it be like on Monday when Roman had to announce his devastating news to the world?


	5. Chapter 5

The announcement from Roman Reigns that he had leukaemia for a second time had shocked fans and superstars alike. As far as she knew, Zelina Vega had been the only person outside of Roman's family to get the news ahead of his speech in the ring. She had witnessed firsthand some of the shocked reactions from members of the roster. People had stared blankly at each other, while others had shed tears. It had been difficult to watch.

As General Manager, Vega had treated doing right by Roman as her top priority of the night, before she could start getting down to Vega Cartel business. She was now waiting to see him out of the arena, knowing that his friends and mentors would be greeting him when he walked back into Gorilla, all wanting to wish him well before he headed home to begin treatment for his condition. The Universal Championship had been left in the ring, and would be returned to Zelina soon. While it was vacant, it was up to her to look after it.

Vega had left the three members of her new team back in her office when she had headed out to wait for Roman near the exit. Apart from Ciampa, who had seemed almost indifferent to the news, the Cartel members had been as shocked as everyone else to learn what Roman was dealing with.

A couple of minutes later, Roman came walking towards Vega, looking like he had been shedding tears himself. That could hardly be considered a surprise.

"Thank you again for letting me go out there and do that," Roman said as he approached her.

Vega offered her hand. "You're welcome. And I want you to know the door is open as soon as you beat this and want to come back."

"It'll be sooner than later," Roman promised her as he shook her hand.

"I hope it is," she replied sincerely. "Anything I can do as General Manager, you let me know."

Reigns nodded. "Will do." A smile appeared on his face and he cracked a joke in parting. "Make the most of it while I'm gone, because I'm going to take that team you're putting together apart when I get back here."

Vega grunted a laugh. "I'm looking forward to seeing you try."

With that, Reigns walked out of the nearby exit door, a cameraman following behind him. Just like that, he was gone. It was a sombre moment indeed for Vega, wondering how long it would be before she saw him at an arena again. She was determined to think of it as a when, not an if.

A few minutes later, Vega walked back into her office. The competitors for the first match of the night were making their entrance out in the arena. She was glad not to have to go out there. After the way the night had started, she needed a bit of time to get her composure back.

"That was... unpleasant," was the greeting she got from Baron Corbin when she entered the room, finding her people still sitting where she had left them. McIntyre and Corbin were sitting on one of the two leather couches, with Ciampa on the other. She was going to have to sit next to him. Maybe it would be a good idea to have the crew add another couch to her setup, arranging them in a U shape around the coffee table?

"Yes, it was. But the show has to go on," Vega said as she sat down.

"Good," Ciampa said. "What's being done about me and Corbin going for the tag titles?"

Vega looked at him for a second. They were going to have to have a chat about the way he spoke to her. There wasn't the required amount of respect in his voice. For now, she chose to answer the question. "My plan is to have you challenge for them at TLC. Seth and Dean have been champions for a while now, and it goes without saying how strong a team they are. I want the two of you to at least have a few matches under your belts before you face them. So, tonight you have a match against Gable and Roode. Show me what you can do."

"We'll make an example of them," Corbin said with determination.

"Speaking of TLC, what's happening to the main event?" McIntyre asked. The previous week, Vega had made it a triple threat between McIntyre, Lesnar and Reigns. Needless to say, that wasn't going to be the case anymore.

"It'll be you and Lesnar one on one for the vacant Universal Championship," Vega informed him. "I'm going to go and have Kayla Braxton interview me shortly so that I can make that announcement."

On the large flat screen TV, the first match of the night had already come to an end. Vega looked at Corbin, that at Ciampa. "You're up next. You should go."

"Let's do it," Corbin said to his new partner as he got up.

Ciampa said nothing, simply standing and heading for the door.

"He's a cold, weird man," McIntyre said after the door closed behind them.

There was no need for Vega to ask which one he meant. Ciampa gave her the creeps, and that wasn't something she could say about many people. She was thankful of the loyalty clause that she had put in the contract he had signed that afternoon. Thanks to that clause, if he stabbed her in the back, he was out of work on the spot.

"Yes he is," she acknowledged, with quick raise of her eyebrows. "But he'll get the job done, and that's what I recruited him for."

McIntyre shifted his position to sit in a more relaxed manner. Apparently he felt more at ease now that it was only him and Zelina in the room. She noticed that, and found it intriguing.

Of the three men on her team, she had by far the most in common with Drew. Corbin was proving to be more useful than expected, but when all was said and done he was still an ass kisser trying to save his job. Ciampa was a borderline psychopath. There was no way she would ever have much common ground with him. But McIntyre? She figured she could actually get on with him. Of the three, he had been the right choice to push for the Universal Championship.

"It feels wrong somehow to capitalise on what happened to Roman," McIntyre said while she was thinking. "Obviously, I'd never wish that on someone. Having said that, a singles match will be easier to win than a triple threat, even if it is against Lesnar."

Vega nodded. "Lesnar isn't someone we can underestimate, but I'm confident you'll get the job done."

On the TV, the entrances for the tag team match were in progress. Vega and McIntyre sat back and watched the contest. Initially, it was more closely contested than Vega would have liked, but in the end Ciampa got a win for the Cartel for the second week in a row.

It dawned on Vega as she got up to go and find Kayla Braxton that she hadn't made the name of her group official as yet. She would solve that by dropping it into the interview she was about to give.

Before Vega was able to locate Braxton, she was approached by Bayley, the potential final Cartel recruit. It was a significantly different -looking Bayley. There was no sign of the side ponytail, and she was wearing a leather jacket and black pants. The change of appearance was an encouraging sign for Vega.

"I've done a lot of thinking since last week," Bayley opened with. "The offer to join you? I'm in."

"Not yet you're not," Vega said assertively. "It's one thing to do away with the ponytail and the coloured headbands. I want to see a new Bayley in the ring, too. As promised, I have made your match with Sasha in tonight's main event no disqualification. If you want onto my team, you're going to need to impress me."

Judging by the look on Bayley's face, she didn't doubt her ability to do just that. "I will. Make sure you're watching."

"Oh, I will be," Vega assured her.

* * *

True to her word, Vega had watched the entire Bayley – Banks main event from Gorilla. And true to her own word, Bayley had turned in a performance that had taken everyone by surprise. Banks had been beaten all around the ringside area with all manner of weaponry, failing to get in much offense in reply. The beat down could only be classed as savage.

Vega was indeed impressed by it. There had been flashes of this Bayley, a more aggressive, more violent Bayley, in the past. Now here she was, sustaining it throughout a whole match.

Bizarrely, Vega thought, the fans were cheering what they were witnessing. That was a real surprise. But then, you could never predict what the idiots were going to. They even cheered Bayley when she eventually put Sasha away with a Bayley to Belly for the win.

It had been a comprehensive performance and a decisive victory. Satisfied with what she had witnessed, Vega decided that Bayley had done enough to justify her selection as the final member of The Vega Cartel.

Bayley didn't bother with much celebration after the match. Her music hadn't played, either. It hardly seemed appropriate anymore.

When she saw Bayley leave the ring, Vega ordered the production crew to hit her music instead. The order was obeyed immediately, drawing the predictable boos from the fans when they heard it.

Feeling very pleased with herself for her part in bringing about this new Bayley, Vega walked out onto the stage with a smug expression on her face. The boos were insignificant, as far as she was concerned.

On her way up the ramp, Bayley looked delighted at seeing the boss come out in recognition of her performance.

"Okay, Bayley," Vega said once the former hugger was standing in front of her at the top of the ramp. "There's a place for you in the Cartel. Do not make me regret it. Do not let me down." She offered her hand.

"I won't. I want the Women's Championship, and I know that together, we can make that happen."

"We will make it happen," Vega guaranteed.

That was all Bayley needed to hear. She took Vega's hand, and another pact was formed. The recruitment phase for the Cartel was complete.

Bayley turned around to face the cameraman who had been there to film the exchange up close. The two women raised each other's hands in celebration. Vega considered it a fitting way for the show to end. For the second week in a row, everything had gone her way.

After Raw went of air, Vega and Bayley had walked to the back, with Zelina extending an offer for her new recruit to join her new teammates in the General Manager's office.

When they arrived, Vega found McIntyre waiting just outside the room. "Problem?" she enquired of the Scotsman.

"The opposite," he replied, giving Bayley a nod in greeting. It was clear, though, that he had something he wanted to say.

"Go ahead, Bayley," Vega said, gesturing towards the office.

McIntyre waited until the door closed behind Bayley before looking at Vega. "I'd call that a successful night," he proclaimed.

"Yes," Vega said, drawing the word out to encourage him to get to the point, whatever it was.

"I'd like to celebrate it by buying you a drink."

Vega felt sure she must have heard him wrong. "Excuse me?" she said, raising her eyebrows.

"I said I want to buy you a drink." He was perfectly calm about it, seeming to believe she would accept.

Zelina felt taken aback. She had caught herself more than once thinking about Drew in ways that she really shouldn't have as his boss. She found him attractive, there was no two ways about it. But now she had the revelation that he felt the same way about her. It was obvious in the way he had posed the question.

"You're asking me on a date?" she asked, sounding more incredulous than she might have liked, since she was minded to accept the offer.

"I said I wanted to celebrate a successful night by buying you a drink."

Vega liked that response. She could have the drink with him without specifically committing to it being a date ahead of time. "Okay then, you can buy me a drink," she decided.

They smiled at each other, and she felt something flutter in her stomach. Get a grip, it's just a drink, she told herself.


	6. Chapter 6

Standing in front of the mirror in her hotel room, Zelina Vega finished applying her lip gloss. She had chosen bright red, to match the tastefully revealing top she had on, and the fresh nails she'd had done the day before. Her look for the night was completed with a pair of black leather pants, often a preference for her, and a choice that she strongly suspected Drew McIntyre would approve of.

"I think that'll do," she told herself after one more look over her outfit.

In a way, she found it kind of pathetic how excited she was for the upcoming date that wasn't even officially a date. For the past couple of years, she had been so committed to managing her friend and client Andrade Almas that there had barely been a chance for her to have a personal life. She literally couldn't remember the last time she had been asked to go on a night out with a guy. For that reason, she also felt a sense of nervousness in addition to the excitement. As she was usually such a confident and forceful person, the nerves felt especially unpleasant.

It's just a drink, she told herself. The reflection in the mirror didn't look like it believed her. There was no way Drew only had celebrating the successful formation of The Vega Cartel on his mind. No, he was attracted to her, as she was attracted to him. That was all well and good on the face of it, but she felt hesitant about the prospect of mixing her professional and personal lives by potentially dating The Vega's Cartel's star recruit. If she started down that path, it would be vital to tread carefully.

It was time to stop hesitating and get down to the hotel's bar, where by now Drew would be waiting for her. She was running late, having taken longer with her makeup than she had anticipated. Hopefully he would find the results to be worth the wait.

After dropping her phone and her room key into her small clutch purse, she was at last ready to leave. At least the fact that they were meeting in the hotel's bar meant that all she had to do to get there was go down to the ground floor in the elevator and walk around the corner.

Just a couple of minutes later, she walked into the bar, immediately seeing Drew standing at the bar, working on his first beer of the night. At least, she hoped it was his first, and she hadn't kept him waiting for too long. Glancing around the room, she considered that it didn't look too bad, as far as hotel bars went. There were a few empty booths, too, so they would be able to sit and chat with some privacy.

Walking over towards him, she wondered how he was going to greet her. After being cautious by telling her it was only going to be a celebratory drink, he might have backed himself into something of a corner. The thought made her smile to herself as she neared where he was sitting.

"Sorry I'm a bit late," she opened with.

"Oh, hi," Drew said, turning at the sound if her voice and smiling warmly to greet her. "You look… beautiful," he said after a pause, sounding a little like her appearance had taken his breath away.

"Thank you," she replied, smiling broadly. Even when he was sitting on a bar stool, she had to look up at him. He was so much taller than her it bordered on the ridiculous. Taking in his white and grey cotton twill shirt and the way he had tidily pulled his hair back into a ponytail, she decided that he didn't brush up badly himself. In fact he looked dashing. She liked a smartly dressed man, and right now he fit the bill perfectly. "You look good too," she added, nodding slightly to emphasise her approval.

"I believe I promised to buy you a drink," he said with a smile of his own.

"Yes, I believe you did." Zelina got the bartender's attention and spent a couple of minutes talking through the available cocktail options, needing to find out which ones were vegan. Eventually, she was able to make a selection and Drew bought it for her.

"Shall we go and sit in one of those booths?" he suggested.

"Yeah. I was going to suggest it myself."

They walked over to the furthest available booth from the bar's entrance and sat down opposite each other. Once they were settled in, he raised his beer glass for a toast. "To The Vega Cartel."

"To The Vega Cartel," Zelina repeated, touching her glass gently to his. Having such a powerful faction under her control and named after her was good food for her ego.

"Long may we reign," Drew said with good humour after taking a sizeable sip of beer.

Zelina burst out laughing. "Long may we reign? What kind of talk is that?"

Drew laughed also, offering a shrug. "I don't know. It just felt like the right thing to say."

"To reign, surely I would have to be a queen," she said thoughtfully. "Queen Zelina. You know, I can get behind that." She wondered if Drew was going to have the balls to say something about a queen needing a king. If it occurred to him, he decided to avoid it.

"Well, you are the GM. That's about the closest thing we have."

"I'll settle for that then," Zelina replied with another chuckle. She found herself thinking that she was enjoying herself already. The date, if it was a date, was off to a good start.

The way they had chosen to sit had left Drew facing the entrance. Zelina saw him look in that direction and his eyes widened slightly.

"What?" she asked him, resisting the urge to turn around.

"Dean and Renee just walked in."

With The Shield being adversaries of her cartel, Zelina immediately pictured Drew and Dean getting into a fight in the middle of the bar. Earlier in the night, she might have been all for that, but now it wasn't the way she wanted to be spending her time. "Don't look at him. Pretend they're not here," she advised.

"He saw me and blanked me," Drew reported. "Renee's saying something to him. They're leaving," he added a moment later.

"Good." Taking another sip from her cocktail, Zelina chose to move the conversation on, if not exactly away from business. "Why don't you tell me a bit more about Drew McIntyre? Because, forgive the brutal honesty, when I used to watch WWE a few years ago I found you to be a joke. But when you came back, it was a whole different story."

Drew took the comment in his stride with a pragmatic smile. "I can't argue with that assessment," he admitted. "I don't even know how I ended up running with that moron Heath Slater, or how he convinced Jinder and I that starting a band would be a good idea. When I was let go by WWE, I went back home and it was while I was taking a shower one morning not long afterwards that I suddenly asked myself, 'What the heck were you doing?' It was then I decided to go and hit the gym, determined to get myself in better shape. I wanted to be a champion, not a comedy act.

"It took a long time for me to get Hunter to show any interest in bringing me back to NXT. When he finally asked me to go down to Orlando for a try out, I absolutely demolished the guy he put me in the ring with. Hunter told me he was impressed, and thought I now had the required determination, the required attitude, and I was in the greatest shape he had seen anyone in for a while."

"Can't argue with that," Zelina said without thinking, picturing him in his ring attire. As soon as she had said it, she realised what had come out of her mouth and quickly floundered to put the genie back in the bottle. "I mean, you did come back with the right attitude and determination to succeed. Like, uh, that's the reason I had you as my first choice when recruiting for the cartel."

Graciously, Drew did his best to act like she hadn't just admitted being attracted to him. "I'm glad you did recruit me. All I've wanted is a shot at the Universal Championship. I know I can beat anyone on my day, including Brock Lesnar. Come TLC, I'm going to do it," he vowed.

"I know you are," Zelina replied with an equal amount of seriousness.

Drew appeared to regret how forcefully he had spoken, thinking that it wasn't really appropriate for a date. "Sorry. I got a bit carried away. It means a lot to me, you know? Winning that title would be the biggest achievement of my life."

"No need to apologise at all," Zelina assured him. "I appreciate your passion, and I can relate, trust me. Getting this General Manager job isn't something I ever had in mind as a career ambition, but it's the biggest achievement of my life so far. When I went for it, I expected McMahon to reject me almost out of hand. To my surprise, he was all for the idea."

"I must admit I was surprised by your appointment. I was expecting Vince to announce the return of some former General Manager or other. Your name never even crossed my mind."

"Right," Zelina nodded. "I'm sure everyone else's reaction was pretty much the same."

McIntyre finished off his beer before asking, "How are you finding it so far?"

Zelina puffed out her cheeks. "More work than I imagined. Obviously I expected it to be a lot to take on, I'm not an idiot. But even then, I had no idea. It's a genuinely full time job."

"It comes with a lot of power, though."

"Oh, for sure," Zelina said happily. "No doubt that's the best thing about it. Right now, since there's no Commissioner, I have exclusive control over every aspect of Raw. It's something I'm still trying to fully comprehend, to be completely honest with you."

The humorous smile that Zelina was rapidly getting a soft spot for appeared on Drew's face. "You've come a long way from the mouthy little Latina chick that I suddenly found in my face when I was NXT Champion, mouthing off about some nobody called Cien Almas."

Zelina laughed. It would have surprised most people who had only dealt with her on WWE shows that she was in fact able to laugh at herself, but in the right company, she could manage it. "A nobody who beat you," she reminded him.

"Yeah, thanks to a lot of help from you. I seem to remember getting one of those spike hurricanrana things you do."

Vega bit her bottom lip in amusement. "I seem to remember that too. And I remember you kicking out of it."

"That's how good I am," he said, deliberately overplaying his smugness.

"Oh, I know how good you are. That's why you're going to be the next champion."

Drew smiled. "I'd drink to that, if I had a drink." He gestured to her half-consumed cocktail. "Can I get you another?"

"Same again, thank you."

As Drew went up to the bar, Zelina went to work on her drink, watching him as she did so. The date was going well. She felt naturally at ease talking to him, and he seemed to find making her laugh to be quite easy.

When he returned to the table, Zelina decided that three drinks would be her limit for the night. She was having a nice time, but she didn't want to get wrecked and possibly end up doing something she would regret.

They chatted away for another hour, telling each other a bit about their childhoods and sharing some funny stories, before moving on to doing the same thing about their time with WWE. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for them both.

"One more?" Drew offered when she finished her third cocktail. He had bought all of them, despite her insistence that she was willing to go to the bar.

"No, thank you. I think I'll call it a night. A lot of traveling to do tomorrow."

"Oh, alright," Drew said, not quite managing to hide his disappointment.

What she had said had swiftly brought the night to an end. Moments later, they were standing up and leaving the bar, heading for the elevator. She got the impression he felt a little rejected by the fact she hadn't wanted to stay for longer, and worried that he might think she hadn't enjoyed herself. That definitely wasn't the impression she wanted to give him, so she opted to be perfectly clear.

"Drew, I had a lovely time. You're a lot of fun to talk to. I haven't laughed that much for a lot time. We should do it again; maybe not on a school night."

Drew chuckled, looking happy with what he had heard. "I had a great time as well. I'd love to do it again."

"Then we will," she said as they entered an elevator. There had been one already on the lobby level. "And next time, I'll put my hand in my pocket, since you paid for everything tonight."

Drew had pressed the number twelve for his floor, and Zelina had pressed seven for hers.

"Even better," Drew said. "A date with a hot..." He stopped himself in his tracks, but not quite in time.

"Go on, you can finish your thought," she encouraged with a hearty laugh.

Drew shrugged and went with it. "A date with a hot chick, and free drinks." He said it just in time for the elevator reaching the seventh floor.

"I'll leave you with that thought, Drew," Zelina teased as the doors slid open. She looked up at him and gave what she hoped was her most dazzling smile. It was as far as she was going to go after a brief test the waters type of date.

"I'll look forward to it," he smiled back. "Goodnight."

Zelina stepped out of the elevators before the doors closed, and was able to say goodnight to him before they slid shut.

Waking back to her room, she felt happy in a way that had been missing from her life for some time. Yes, she decided, there would be another date in the future. Next time it would be a longer one, maybe a meal and a movie. And if that went well, she might be prepared to describe herself as dating Drew McIntyre.


	7. Chapter 7

In something akin to a military inspection, Zelina Vega stood in front of the four members of her newly-assembled cartel, assessing their appearance. She was proud of what she saw. On her instruction, they had all arrived dressed smartly, in a manner befitting of a faction as powerful as hers. First there was McIntyre, who had on a dark blue suit and a light blue shirt, and had his hair in ponytail again, reminiscent of their first date. Next to him was Baron Corbin, wearing his usual ensemble of shirt, suit pants and a waistcoat. Beside him stood Ciampa, who had made the effort to put on a grey shirt and black pants. He still had the scruffy-looking beard, but overall, she found his appearance acceptable. Lastly, there was Bayley. Of all the transformations Zelina had brought about, Bayley's was the most remarkable. Gone were the side ponytail, along with the brightly coloured headbands and ring attire. She was now standing there with her hair down, face made up, wearing an expensive black dress, along with a silver necklace and watch.

"Excellent. Now we all look the part," Vega proclaimed. For her own outfit, she had chosen a dark green sleeveless dress. As with almost everything she wore, it was revealing, but tastefully so. In the back of her mind, she wondered how much interest Drew was taking in what he saw.

"We're opening the show, obviously," Corbin said. Considering that Raw was moments away from going live, and they were standing just outside of Gorilla, he wasn't making the boldest of predictions.

"Yes, we're opening the show," Vega replied. "It's time for me to officially introduce The Vega Cartel in the ring, and to let everyone know exactly what's going to happen in a few weeks at TLC. In one sense, I already run this place. By the time TLC is over, you guys are going to run it in another. I want championship gold around the waist of each and every one of you. You're all going to get the opportunity to win titles, and I expect you to take the most of it. Is that understood?"

All four of them confirmed that it was indeed understood. Out in the arena, the Raw theme music was now playing. The commentary team would be welcoming the viewers to the show.

"Alright, follow me," Vega ordered her people, turning and heading into Gorilla.

Having seen her schedule ahead of time, the production crew were ready to hit The Vega Cartel's music, and did so as soon as they saw her walk in. Boos from the fans could be heard perfectly clearly before Zelina even got close to the curtain, not that she cared in the least. The idiots could sit there and boo all they wanted. They were nothing but an irritant. In practical terms, their opinions meant literally nothing.

Without pause, Vega walked through the curtain, knowing that her team would be close behind. A second volley of boos greeted their appearance, which again, she brushed off as she walked over to the top of the entrance ramp. Ahead of time, she had told them how she wanted them to pose for what was going to be become their entrance routine. As the leader, she would stand in front of them, in the centre of the line of four that they would form. The two tallest men, McIntyre and Corbin, would stand behind her, with Bayley next to McIntyre and Ciampa next to Corbin. If it looked the way Zelina pictured it in her mind, it would project a very powerful image, both to the viewers and to everyone in the locker room.

Vega led her team down to the ring. While she walked up the ring steps, Corbin climbed directly onto the apron and parted the ropes for her and Bayley to enter. Shortly, they were assembled again, in the same way they had been on the stage, this time facing the hard camera.

The music stopped playing. The void was filled with a third chorus of boos. Zelina made sure her facial expression conveyed that she held the same contempt for the fans as they did for her. Bayley walked over to the corner of the ring to fetch a microphone, which she deferentially handed over to Zelina, who accepted it without a word. Before gracing the crowd with her voice, she began slowly walking around the ring, looking out at them with distaste. The more she made them wait, the more they booed her. She thought it would have been interesting to see who would have cracked first if she simply refused to speak until they shut up and listened, but there was a show to get through.

"You people are seriously rude," she said eventually. As she had anticipated, it set them off again. Getting crowd reactions was a lot like getting a trained monkey to do tricks.

"Ignore them. Don't let them get to you," Corbin said to her as she walked by him.

Vega was tempted to roll her eyes at her Deputy General Manager. If he really thought an arena full of people booing her was going to get under her skin, he had a lot to learn. The cartel members were still assembled in line, albeit standing at ease.

"You are in the presence of greatness," Zelina informed the crowd. "Allow me to formally introduce you to the now fully-assembled Vega Cartel."

While speaking, she had walked to the far end of the line, where Bayley was standing. "Bayley," Zelina announced proudly. "Having renounced giving out hugs and high fives, Bayley will be facing Ronda Rousey for the Raw Women's Championship at the upcoming TLC pay-per-view. Ronda's had a great run, there can be no doubt about it, but it's about to come to an end."

Bayley nodded slowly, a determined expression on her face at the thought of crossing paths with Rousey for the first time.

Next, Vega walked to the opposite end of the line, standing in front of Corbin and Ciampa. "Baron Corbin and Tommaso Ciampa," she announced. "At TLC, they will meet Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins for the Raw Tag Team Championships. There have been rumours for some time about The Shield splitting up. How will they handle losing their spot at the top of the tag team division?"

Vega stepped up to McIntyre, who had a smug grin on his face. He was the chosen one, the centre of attention, the main man, and he knew it.

"And last but definitely not least, Drew McIntyre," Vega proclaimed proudly. "This is the man who at TLC will make an impact that shocks not only Raw, but the entirety of WWE to its core when he goes one on one with Brock Lesnar and beats him, becoming the new Universal Champion."

Vega resumed pacing around the ring while lecturing the fans. "You see, Zelina Vega already runs Raw outside the ring. After TLC is over, The Vega Cartel will also run Raw in the ring also. Ronda Rousey will be taken down. The Shield will be taken down. Brock Lesnar will be taken down," she insisted, becoming more vehement with each statement.

"Ladies and gentlemen!"

The crowd cheered the sound of Paul Heyman's voice. Zelina rounded to face the stage, furious with the interruption. She had only been getting started with bragging about her team, but Brock Lesnar's manager was now waddling out onto the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Paul Heyman!"

Vega sighed theatrically at the sheep joining in with him. She couldn't comprehend what was so entertaining about a man introducing himself.

"And I am the advocate for the next Universal Champion, the conqueror, the beast, Brock Lesnar!" Heyman said. Remaining at the top of the entrance ramp, he looked down towards the ring with an expression that suggested he didn't have much respect for Vega or anyone else who was in there. "Zelina, ordinarily I would apologise for interrupting the General Manager. Congratulations on the appointment by the way. But on this occasion, I feel like someone had to interrupt you because you seem to suffering from what I might describe as delusions of grandeur."

Zelina glared up at him, wondering who the hell he thought he was, talking to her like that.

"You're out here talking about your new cartel winning this title and that title, and you mentioned Drew McIntyre beating Brock Lesnar. Allow me to point out to you the fact that your cartel isn't quite the overwhelming force you seem to think it is. Why do I say that? Well, let's actually look at the people you have in the ring with you and what they have achieved in WWE. There's Bayley, who has one Women's Championship to her name, and there are three men, who between them have never held the WWE Championship, and have never held the Universal Championship. It's hardly a record to be proud of, is it?"

Vega could feel herself shaking with anger at the way she was being talked down to. The worst was that Heyman wasn't done.

"The truth is, while it's commendable to have ambition, Zelina, you also have to face reality. And the reality is that when Brock Lesnar gets in the ring with Drew McIntyre, or indeed any other member of your cartel, he will destroy them. He will tear them limb from limb. Allow me to demonstrate."

Before Zelina had the chance to be concerned about Heyman's final sentence, Lesnar's music hit. The fans went crazy, but that was the least of Vega's concerns. Seeing Brock jogging down the ramp, intent on destruction, she decided to order her people to retreat. Having her three men stand and fight Lesnar when they didn't have to wasn't the way she intended to handle things. "Run!" she yelled, heading for the ropes.

Vega bailed to the outside of the ring, with Bayley right behind her. Looking around, she saw that Ciampa and McIntyre had also managed to escape out of the opposite side of the ring as the cartel had scattered. Corbin, however, hadn't been quick enough. Lesnar had managed to knock him down, and was now picking him up again, in a position to deliver an F5. Heyman had also come down to the ring, and was cheering on his client.

As the finishing move was delivered to Corbin, Vega put her hands on her head in frustration. The one saving grace was that it wasn't McIntyre, the cartel's chosen one, who was getting beaten up. Even so, Corbin was an important member of the team, and she didn't want him to get hurt.

In the ring, Lesnar was beckoning McIntyre to come back in and fight. Drew was having none of it, though. He walked around the ring to join Zelina and Bayley, with Ciampa not far behind him. Vega realised the only way to rescue Corbin was to potentially sacrifice the other two guys to the same fate. No way, she thought. "Let's get out of here," she told the group.

Leading by example, Vega walked around to the entrance ramp and headed up it. No one showed any reluctance in following her. It was decidedly preferable to confronting Lesnar.

Nearing the top of the ramp, Vega turned back around, needing to see what was going to happen to Corbin. It was like seeing a car wreck about to happen in front of you, not wanting to see it, but being unable to look away.

Pointing at McIntyre, Lesnar shouted something. Although it wasn't possible to hear him from up near the stage, it was clear what he was getting at. He was about to show McIntyre what was going to happen to him at TLC.

With her hands balled into fists at her sides, Vega watched Corbin take a second F5, ending up a broken and battered mess in the middle of the ring. There was no doubt that if a match had been in progress the referee would have able to count to thirty, let alone three.

"Don't worry, that's not going to happen to me," McIntyre assured Zelina, standing by her side.

"Make sure it doesn't," Vega replied heatedly. "At TLC, I want the Universal Championship. I want Lesnar beaten, and I want Heyman humbled," she raged.

"Trust me, I'll make it happen," he replied with determination.


	8. Chapter 8

"Your cartel isn't quite the overwhelming force you seem to think it is."

Those had been Paul Heyman's words a few weeks earlier on Raw. They were now repeating themselves in Zelina Vega's head, only moments before the Universal Championship match between Brock Lesnar and Drew McIntyre. Uncharacteristically, Vega was starting to doubt herself. Maybe Heyman had been right.

The reason for her doubts was the fact that TLC had not gone at all the way she had imagined it would. Despite impressively dominating her match against Ronda Rousey, Bayley had ended up having to tap out to an armbar. That had been one failure for the cartel.

Corbin and Ciampa had followed up be dishing out an ass kicking to The Shield, but again, had failed to close out the match. Seth Rollins had managed to get a Curb Stomp on Corbin, and that had made it two failures from two.

Vega had been angry enough to tear her office apart, but somehow, god only knew how, she had kept a lid on it. There was still one match to go, and one more title up for grabs. The main title was still up for grabs. If McIntyre managed to beat Lesnar, she would consider the night's work acceptable. Not impressive, as she had wanted. Not ideal. But acceptable.

Currently, Vega was walking beside McIntyre, on their way to Gorilla for the main event. She had decided, given the vital importance of the contest, that she would accompany him to the ring and oversee things in person. Who knew, she might even be able to help out a little if the referee's back was turned. Whatever it took to get the Universal Championship, she was prepared to do.

As the challenger, McIntyre would enter the arena before Lesnar. Therefore, when they walked into Gorilla, there was thankfully no sign of Brock or his manager. They walked over and stood behind the curtain while the video promo package for the match played in the arena. Looking up at Drew, Zelina saw his eyes closed. He was taking a moment to compose himself before the biggest match of his career. She couldn't blame him, and decided to stay quiet and leave him to it.

Shortly, the promo package ended and The Vega Cartel's music began to play. All members of the group now used it for their entrances. It was greeted, as ever, by boos from the fans. Vega barely noticed. She was fired up for the match. Seeing how determined Drew looked had revitalised her confidence that he was indeed going to claim the biggest prize of the night.

"Let's go," McIntyre snarled, leading the way through the curtain.

Vega walked out onto the stage behind him, then when he stopped at the top of the ramp, she stood next to him and pointed up at him proudly. "There's your next champion right there!" she yelled.

They walked down to the ring and Zelina followed him up the steps and through the ropes. He didn't hold the ropes open for her, but she was fine with that. His focus was on Lesnar, and that was exactly where she wanted it.

To complete their entrance routine, they posed side by side in the centre of the ring, facing the hard camera.

Abruptly, their music faded out. It was replaced a couple of seconds later by Brock Lesnar's theme. For reasons that Vega couldn't understand, he was greeted by a cheer. What exactly was so great about a guy who hardly ever bothered to show up, she simply couldn't understand. Under her regime, a contract like that would certainly never be offered to someone, no matter who they were.

"Now, remember what I told you," Vega said to McIntyre. Before they had left the locker room, she had made a suggestion for a way to get the upper hand right from the start of the contest.

"I've got this," McIntyre promised her. "Stand back."

Usually, Vega would have objected to being ordered around like that. But she knew he had said it purely with her safety in mind, so she walked over to stand in the corner, out of the way, but not conspicuously so. She didn't want to give the game away to Lesnar and Heyman.

Brock jumped up onto the apron and entered the ring, while Heyman walked around to climb up the ring steps. As they entered the ring, McIntyre walked over to Vega, giving the ring to Lesnar, who made a show of limbering up, facing the hard camera.

Vega looked up at McIntyre and nodded. The moment to put their plan into action was at hand. When Lesnar turned around to walk back to his corner, McIntyre was already running at him. Vega was busy hurrying out under the ropes, so she didn't see the Claymore Kick connect. She did hear it, though, and she heard Lesnar hit the mat.

When she looked back into the ring, Lesnar was getting up. Even a Claymore hadn't kept him down long enough for a cover to be attempted. Heyman was raging on the other side of the ring, protesting about the unfair start to the match. He would have to suck it up, Vega thought unsympathetically.

As soon as Lesnar regained his feet, despite the fact that he looked unsteady on his feet, the referee called for the bell. McIntyre, like a man possessed, rushed his opponent again and delivered a second Claymore, catching him flush in the face and knocking him down.

McIntyre made a cover, and Vega felt sure this was going to be it. Her simple but effective plan had paid off.

"One!"

"Two!"

Lesnar didn't just kick out, he absolutely powered out, and was getting up almost as fast as McIntyre himself. Vega stood there in disbelief at what she was seeing. Two Claymores, and it was like Lesnar had taken a body slam. Her plan had been for the match to be over with by now. "Hit him again!" she screamed to McIntyre, calling for a third Claymore.

Nodding acceptance of her instruction, McIntyre backed up into the corner, lining up Lesnar for a third time. Drew ran forwards and launched himself through the air, aiming at Lesnar's head. Unfortunately, this time, Brock ducked out of the way.

Having missed his target, Drew crashed down hard on his back. In pain, he struggled to his feet. Lesnar was waiting, and scooped him up onto his shoulders.

"No!" Vega screamed as Lesnar delivered an F5. She saw her dreams crashing and burning in that moment. Tonight was supposed to be the night her cartel left with all the gold. Now it looked like they were going to come away with nothing.

Lesnar made a cover, and the fans joined in with the referee's count.

"One!"

"Two!"

McIntyre kicked out, to the dismay of the fans, and the delight and relief of Vega. Again, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. No one kicked out of the F5, but somehow Drew had managed it. Even better, he had rolled towards the ropes after doing so. Grabbing his arm, she half dragged, half encouraged him out of the ring, buying him some time to recover.

After the breakneck start, the match settled into something of a more usual rhythm from that point, with both men having the upper hand multiple times, without managing to secure themselves a three count.

About ten minutes into the match, the action spilled to the outside of the ring, in front of the commentary tables. It happened to be the side Vega was standing on. Watching Lesnar carefully, she was happy that his attention was entirely on McIntyre, not on her. With that in mind, she walked over to the timekeeper's position and picked up a spare steel chair.

The fans started booing and shouting as she snapped the chair closed and brandished it, approaching Lesnar from behind while he crouched over a fallen McIntyre, punching him in the face.

Boo all you want, he's not paying attention you, Vega thought smugly. Now only a couple of feet from Lesnar, she brought the chair back, ready to strike him.

Lesnar suddenly whipped around, glaring menacingly at her. Vega felt sure her heart stopped beating. She had been caught, standing there with a chair above her head.

Saying nothing, Lesnar stood up and began to walk slowly towards Vega, looming over her as she backed away.

"Don't you dare come near me," Vega told him, dropping the chair to the floor.

Lesnar continued walking towards her, eyes burning into her. However, he couldn't see what Vega could see – McIntyre getting up in the background. Playacting now, Vega raised her hands defensively and kept backing away. "I wasn't doing anything," she lied.

Running up from behind Lesnar, McIntyre shoved him forward, face first into the ring post.

Vega laughed, delighting in the part she had played in what happened. Again, though, the seemingly indestructible Lesnar was getting up. Were they going to have to kill him to keep him down?

The referee was at a count of eight. Wanting to stop a double count out, McIntyre rolled into the ring and started threatening the official. It dawned on Vega immediately why he was doing it, and she was thrilled that they were on the same wavelength this soon into their working relationship. With Lesnar almost regaining his feet, she was presented with the perfect opportunity to get on the ring apron and hurricanrana him into the ring steps. It had worked for her before, and it would work again.

Vega jumped up on the ring apron, and as Lesnar stood back up, she took off running along the apron towards him. To her shock, she felt someone grab her ankle from behind and whip her legs out from under her. She fell backwards, and her head crashed onto the hardest part of the ring. Everything went black.

The next thing Vega experienced was pain in the back of her head. She realised she was lying on her back, on the floor near a commentary table. Her ears were ringing, but she was still able to hear Brock Lesnar's music playing. Her heart sank, only a second before she heard JoJo confirm the worst possible news.

"Here is your winner, and the new WWE Universal Champion, Brock Lesnar!"

Vega put her hands over her face in despair. It had all gone horribly wrong. How had her amazing, powerful new group ended their first pay-per-view empty-handed? It was a nightmare. She couldn't believe it.

"Zelina, are you okay?" It was McIntyre's voice. Removing her hands from her face, Vega saw him crouching over her. He looked and sounded defeated, as well as concerned for her wellbeing.

"What happened?" she asked, hating the fact that she knew Lesnar and Heyman would be celebrating their victory in the ring. It should have been her and Drew, not them.

"Heyman pulled you off the apron. Lesnar came back in the ring before I could check on you. I swear I thought I was about to put him away, but he got me with an F5, and…" He obviously didn't want to finish the thought. "I'm sorry," he sighed.

Vega offered her hand, and McIntyre pulled her to her feet. She still felt groggy from the whack her head had taken on the apron. For that reason, she was a little unsteady on her feet. Drew put an arm around her waist to help her walk.

"Don't worry. We'll regroup. We'll fix this," she rambled incoherently. "This is the start of The Vega Cartel, not the end."

"Put me in the Royal Rumble," McIntyre said. Even after losing to an F5, he seemed to be functioning better than she was in that moment.

Yes, Vega thought. The Royal Rumble was the next pay-per-view event. She would put McIntyre in the rumble match, and he would win it, guaranteeing himself a championship opportunity at Wrestlemania. They would take revenge on Lesnar and Heyman on the grandest stage of them all.

"Yes, that's what we'll do," she told him as they made their way slowly up the entrance ramp.

They headed back to Vega's office in an unhappy silence. By the time they got there, she was at least able to walk unaided. Opening the door and walking in, she found the rest of her team sitting on the couches, looking equally as disheartened as she felt. As the leader, she knew it was on her to say something to lift their spirits. She could have ranted and raved at them for their failings, but as they were such a new team, she figured doing that would probably do more harm than good.

"This has been a bad night for The Vega Cartel," she began, since she had to face facts. "But keep your heads up. We haven't gotten off to a good start, but the start is all this is. We're going to go again, and next time…"

Vega was interrupted by a knock on the door. The door was pushed open, and a man walked in. Upon seeing who it was, McIntyre squared up to him, carefully positioned between the new arrival and Zelina in a protective gesture. Ciampa had also jumped up and confronted the man who had entered the room, perhaps more out of a desire to fight someone than to protect the boss.

"What are you doing in here?" McIntyre demanded in a threatening tone.

"I've come to talk to Zelina, that's all," the man said.

"Step aside. I'll hear him out," Vega said to her men. McIntyre and Ciampa obeyed, leaving her to look her visitor in the eye. "What do you want?" she asked impatiently.

"You're looking for championship gold, right? I can give you the Intercontinental Championship."

"And in return you want what exactly?" Vega questioned sceptically.

"A place in The Vega Cartel."


	9. Chapter 9

Sunday night had been a night of soul-searching for Zelina Vega and the rest of her cartel. TLC, their first pay-per-view event, had been nothing short of an abject failure. Three matches had resulted in resulted in three losses and no championships won.

The pain of the defeats had been lessened a little for Vega by the intriguing offer that had been made to her moments after TLC went off air. That night, nursing a headache from the whack her head had taken on the ring apron, she was sat in her hotel room, considering what had been proposed. In exchange for a place in The Vega Cartel, her visitor would bring the Intercontinental Championship to the group.

"Call me tonight with your decision," had been his parting words before he had left her office. It had been clear that he meant the offer would be off the table if she didn't accept by the end of the night. Part of her was irked by that, resenting terms being dictated to her when she was the boss of the cartel and the General Manager of Raw. But in this particular deal, she wasn't the one holding the cards.

On one hand, she had concerns about allying herself with the man. He had shown himself lacking loyalty on more than one occasion in the past. However, on the other hand, adding him to the team would bring gold; something that none of the other members had so far managed to deliver. It would also appear as though she had pulled off a major coup, making her look like even more of a formidable leader. That aspect appealed to her in a big way.

For the past half hour, Vega had been sat in silence at the large wooden table in the executive hotel suite that came as a perk of her job. Her phone was in her hand, ready to make the call, if she chose to make it. She was absently twirling the device around in her hand, while the cogs in her head turned even faster.

Vega reached a decision. If she hadn't been sitting in the dark, and if she hadn't been alone, the evil look on her face would have taken aback anyone who had seen it. She raised her phone, called the man's number, then lifted the device to her ear.

The call was answered after only two rings. Understandably, he had been waiting for her decision. "We have a deal?" he asked, without bothering with a greeting.

"You're in," she confirmed. "Do not disappoint me."

"I don't do disappointment."

A hint of a smile appeared on Vega's face as she ended the call. He was a confident son of a bitch. But that wasn't news to her. By this time the next night, he would also be a cartel member.

* * *

Having full control over making matches on Raw gave Vega, and therefore her team, a distinct advantage over everyone else. While most people who had competed at TLC were required to wrestle again only twenty four hours later, the boss had given her chosen few the night off. Instead of working their asses off in the ring, they would be able to spend the night in her office, metaphorically with their feet up. Even Ciampa had almost looked like he was pleased when he had been given that news.

The only part the cartel members had been required to play in this Raw episode was to accompany the boss to the ring when she opened the show.

Now, Vega stood in the middle of the ring, microphone in hand, her people assembled behind her as their entrance music faded out. Boos, and notably jeers, rained down on them. Vega had expected the jeers, given the catastrophic failures of the previous night. By end of the show, though, the smile would be back on her face.

"When I took this position," she began, only to be drowned out by an increase in the booing. Some of the fans were also trying to get a particularly unpleasant chant of 'Fuck you, Vega' going.

"Shut up, I'm talking!" she yelled aggressively, glaring out into the crowd. The booing intensified again, but at least her outburst stopped the chant.

"They're a bunch of morons," McIntyre opined to Vega, who grunted an acknowledgement.

Beginning what she wanted to say for a second time, Vega talked loudly over the boos. "When I took this position, I promised that people who had been held back would be given opportunities. I said it, and I meant it. In the ring with me right now are several examples of that. Firstly, Drew McIntyre. I am happy to announce him as the first man to officially enter the 2019 Royal Rumble match."

Yet more boos came from the crowd, while McIntyre was shown looking smug about the news.

"Secondly, Bayley," Vega said. "Bayley will enter the second ever women's Royal Rumble."

Bayley was shown slowly nodding her approval. She seemed to relish the prospect.

"And speaking of the Royal Rumble event," Vega proceeded, "we will see a rematch between The Shield and Baron Corbin and Tommaso Ciampa for the Raw Tag Team Championships. That is, if Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins are the champions by then. Why do I say that? Because tonight, as promised, I am giving an opportunity to some people who have been held back. Bobby Roode and Chad Gable will meet The Shield in tonight's main event, and the Raw Tag Team Championships will be on the line."

Pacing around the ring, Vega caught knowing looks from the four members of her team. They knew perfectly well why she had made that match.

"All I've seen since last night is people laughing at me; laughing at The Vega Cartel," Zelina said. "Come the end of the show tonight, we'll see who has the last laugh." She dropped her microphone to the mat. With her music starting to play, the meaning behind her words was deliberately left to people's imaginations. The last thing she wanted to do was spoil the surprise she had in store.

The cartel began to file out of the ring, with Bayley and Ciampa in the lead. Corbin, kissing ass as ever, held the ropes open for Vega. When she descended the ring steps and headed up the entrance ramp, she found herself in step with McIntyre.

"They really have no clue what you've masterminded, Zelina," he said with admiration. "I love watching you work."

"I don't mind watching you work either," she replied, flirting with him without having realised ahead of time that she was going to do it.

For a second, it looked like McIntyre was going to protest that wasn't what he meant. But then he smiled, realising that she had got him. To her surprise, he went one better. "If it all goes to plan, how about you and I have a drink to celebrate back at the hotel?"

Zelina considered the offer for a moment. Realistically, there wasn't a chance of her turning it down. As they reached the stage, she looked up at him and made a decision. "Okay. If it works out, we'll celebrate with a drink."

"Looking forward to it," he said with a confident smile that made Vega feel warm inside. She was falling for his charm, she realised.

* * *

When the tag team main event descended into the inevitable chaos, Vega left her office and headed for Gorilla, leaving her people behind. A new member was about to be added to the cartel, and she wanted to be there to experience the shocked reactions of the idiot fans, and to rub it in their stupid faces.

Reaching Gorilla, Vega resumed watched the match on a monitor. It was only a matter of moments before Seth Rollins got a Curb Stomp on Chad Gable. He made a cover, with Bobby Roode nowhere in sight.

One.

Two.

Three.

Delighted, the fans cheered The Shield's victory, with which they had retained the Raw Tag Team Championships. As Rollins got up to celebrate the win, Ambrose re-entered the ring to join him. The two brothers hugged each other. Vega could clearly imagine the commentary team talking about what a great victory it had been. They, along with everyone else, were in for a shock in the very near future.

Vega watched the monitor eagerly, waiting for the moment. She was already smiling, before the betrayal took place.

The referee handed the title belts back to Rollins and Ambrose. Seth climbed to the top rope in a corner of the ring, holding his title aloft and pumping chest with his other fist. Meanwhile, Dean walked around the ring, looking about as excited as her ever got. The win clearly meant a lot to him.

Rollins jumped down from the turnbuckles and walked towards Ambrose, who was now facing the crowd on the opposite side of the ring. It looked like the two men were going to celebrate together, but out of nowhere Rollins nailed his partner in the back of the head with his title belt.

Howls of shock filled the arena. For a moment, no one could believe what had happened. Rollins was only just getting started, though. Having stabbed Ambrose in the back for the second time, he quickly straddled his fallen former ally and began savagely punching him in the face.

Boos were raining down on the ring, and the production crew managed to capture a few shots of fans looking like they were about to burst into tears. Vega loved it so much that she laughed out loud. She actively wanted Ambrose and the fans to suffer at the hands of her new recruit.

Rollins followed up the initial beatdown with a Curb Stomp, then dragged the unconscious Ambrose out of the ring. Since there were no ringside commentary tables to use to further the ass kicking, Seth whipped Dean hard into the ring steps with a loud crash, sending the top half of them flying across the floor.

Rendered senseless by what he had endured, Ambrose was barely able to move at this point. He didn't even look like he knew where he was. Slowly, he crawled onto the bottom half of the ring steps. It was the worst thing he could possibly have done.

Making the most of the opportunity that had been given to him, Rollins took a run up and delivered another Curb Stomp, driving Ambrose's face down onto the steel with a dull thump. Dean lay there, out cold, with Seth looking down at him, breathing heavily, contempt written all over his face.

For a finishing touch, Rollins retrieved the Tag Team Championship belts from the ring and dumped them on top of Ambrose's broken body, symbolically discarding the title as well as the friendship. With that, Seth walked over to the timekeeper's positon and retrieved the Intercontinental Championship.

Backstage, Vega decided that was the moment for her to make her entrance. "Hit my music," she instructed the production team.

Boos filled the arena again when the short intro to The Vega Cartel's music began to play. It now dawned on the fans that the reason Rollins had attacked Ambrose was because he had sold out to Vega.

Walking out onto the stage, Zelina felt overwhelmingly proud of herself and of Seth. What an alliance they would prove to be, and what a masterstroke she had pulled off by accepting his deal. He was on his way up the entrance ramp towards her, carrying the Intercontinental Championship. Gold belonged to The Vega Cartel at last.

Standing at the top of the ramp, Vega applauded her new recruit. When he got close to her, she offered her hand to him. In truth, the deal was already made. She liked theatrics, though, and wanted the fans to see him shake her hand. "Nicely done. Welcome to the cartel," she said with a nasty little smile on her face.

"It's time for Seth Rollins to become the man again," he said. He took her hand and shook it.

Vega took in his words. Suddenly his motivation was clear. Despite the immense talent he had, Rollins had only been at the top of the mountain once in WWE, and that had been when he was allied to Triple H and Stephanie. Trying to play the hero and go it alone hadn't worked for him. It had taken him a couple of years to realise it, but now it had dawned on him: Zelina Vega was the one who could get him back to the top. There was one more symbolic gesture that had to be made before Raw went off air. "Would you hand the title to me?" she asked, even though it really wasn't a question.

Seth raised the Intercontinental Championship and carefully placed in her outstretched hands, drawing more boos from the crowd.

Wearing the most arrogant smile she could muster, Vega slowly raised the Intercontinental Championship in one hand, and Seth's hand in her other, laughing maniacally as she did so. There was a cameraman standing in front of them to capture the moment up close. Knowing that the show would go off air at any moment, Zelina made sure to have the final word.

"I told you I would have the last laugh!" she shouted gleefully.


	10. Chapter 10

Zelina Vega ended the phone call she had been stuck on for what felt like hours and glared at the screen. "Jesus Christ, just leave me alone," she angrily told Vince McMahon, the person she had just been talking to. While she should have been getting ready for her celebratory drink with Drew McIntyre, she had instead been on the phone with the Chairman, listening to him droning on about how he thought it would be a good idea if she avoided adding any more superstars to her cartel. Apparently his fear was that the show could become too much about her, at the expense of the other stars.

Biting her tongue, Vega had thought that was rich coming from him when he had at one time had a Corporation team that had been twice the size of her cartel. If it had been anyone else, she would probably have said as much. However, she had to keep in mind that Vince was the boss, and she was new in the General Manager role. If he wanted to remove her, he could do so without causing a huge amount of disruption.

"I can assure you, I have no plans to recruit anyone else," she had told him.

"Good, because I hired you to run the show, not for you to go out of control on some power trip," had been the blunt reply.

"I'm not on a power trip, Vince," she had assured him. "As you well know, it's prudent for any authority figure in WWE to have some backup around them. That's all that's going on here."

Vince had thankfully decided not to labour his point any further, and had moved on to talking about the Raw ratings, which were up since she had taken charge. Like that was a surprise, she had thought.

Eventually, McMahon had let her get off the phone, but he had already delayed her to the point where she wasn't going to have time to even freshen up her makeup before going down to the bar to meet Drew. At least, not without making herself incredibly late.

To hell with it, she thought. She had already been made up nicely before Raw, and she had worn leather pants for the show. It was a look Drew blatantly liked, so she decided a change of top would do. She took off the red number she had worn on Raw and pulled on a black t-shirt with a skull design on the front of it. A quick glance in the mirror confirmed that her appearance was at least acceptable. "You'll do," she told the reflection, hoping that Drew would think the same when he saw her.

Grabbing her phone off the bed and dropping it into her clutch, Zelina was about to leave the room. As she turned around, she caught sight of her leather jacket hanging over the back of a chair. Deciding to add that to her look, she walked over and put it on. Now she was definitely ready.

A few minutes later, she was down on the ground floor of the hotel, walking into the bar. As with their previous date, she was arriving later than the agreed upon time, and Drew was standing at the bar, already with a beer in front of him. He was wearing black pants and a cotton twill shirt again, this time in white and blue. He was busy looking at a menu, apparently fancying the idea of getting something to eat.

Presumably hearing her heels on the floor, Drew turned and looked at her as she approached him. A warm smile appeared on his face and she noticed how his eyes lit up when he saw her. It warmed her heart, telling her that he genuinely felt something for her. There was more than a superficial physical attraction there, and she felt the same way about him. Although it was early days, she could see them actually dating each other.

"Hi, Zelina," Drew greeted her. "You look beautiful, as ever."

"Thank you," she smiled. "You look really handsome dressed up like that. And you can call me Zel when we're not at work."

"Zel, huh? I like that," he said before a mischievous grin appeared on his face. "I like a girl in leather, too."

"Yes, so I've noticed," Zelina said dryly. To her delight, he didn't know where to look after that comment. She had overegged how much he had given away his appreciation of the clothes she wore, but he didn't know that.

"Uh, can I get you a drink?" he asked, sounding a little flustered.

"Yes, thank you," she said sweetly, letting him off the hook. She wanted to have a bit of fun, not to ruin the date for him. The bartender came over and he ordered a gin and tonic, after confirming that the tonic water was vegan.

"Speaking of vegan," Drew said while the bartender fixed her drink, "I had a look over the menu and they have vegan options if you'd like something to eat? I was thinking about it. Would you mind if I ordered meat?"

"It's not up to me what you eat," Zelina said in a relaxed tone. "I'm not one of those crazy blue hairs who has to be on a soap box every time they see someone living differently to them. I'm plant based because I find it the healthiest diet for me. You can eat whatever you like."

"Crazy blue hairs?" Drew chuckled. "That's brilliant."

The bartender returned with the gin and tonic and Drew insisted on paying for it.

"Thank you," Zelina said. Looking around the bar, she saw an empty table for four near the back of the room. It was one of the few currently unoccupied, so she picked up her drink and the menu and set off in that direction. "Let's grab that table while we can," she said.

Drew followed her and they sat down opposite each other.

"Okay, I'm going to pay for the food," she insisted, taking her first look at the menu. "This is our second date, and so far I've not bought anything."

"This is our second date?" Drew repeated, smiling broadly.

Zelina realised what she had said. She was sure they had both felt like their first night sharing a few drinks had been a date, but they hadn't actually called it that, and they hadn't called this a date either. Until now, at least. "I'd like to call it a date," she ventured.

"Then it's a date," he replied, still smiling.

She spent a few minutes deciding on what to eat, then went up to the bar to order for them both. When she returned to the table, business was the first thing that came to mind. "Tonight went well, didn't it?" she asked.

Drew nodded. "Yeah, it did. Seth joined the team, and no one saw it coming. Recruiting him could be a big deal. Honestly, though, it does trouble me a bit."

That surprised Zelina. She raised her eyebrows. "How so?"

"Well, when you approached me, I was the first one you came to. You wanted me to be the main man in The Vega Cartel. You wanted me to be your Universal Champion. I wanted those things, too. But with Seth on-board, maybe he might get ideas about making that position his own."

Zelina shook her head. "That's not going to happen. Bringing him into the fold hasn't changed my plans for you, or my opinion of you, at all. Seth is there to lock up the Intercontinental division for us. You're the one I want to see that Universal Championship on. That's why I put you in the Royal Rumble, and I'm going to put Corbin and Ciampa in too, so that if need be they can help out. I don't care how we get the job done, so long as you're the last one standing at the end of the night."

"Alright, that's good to hear," he said. His smile returned a moment later. "You know what I'm picturing right now?"

Zelina sipped her drink, looking at him over the top of her glass. "What?"

"Me and you walking out to the ring for the main event of Wrestlemania. It would be the biggest moment of my career. Actually, the biggest moment of my life. Ever since you approached me, I've been picturing it. I've been living for it. Originally, I pictured myself entering as champion, but that's not going to happen now."

"No, but the rest of that picture will happen. I promise you that," Zelina said sincerely. "I can imagine it too. The two of us walking into MetLife Stadium side by side, and walking out with the Universal Championship. It's going to happen. I feel it. This is going to sound weird, but when I feel something this strongly, I'm almost never wrong."

"Are you a superstitious person?" he enquired, intrigued by the last thing she had said.

"Not superstitious necessarily, but I just get feelings for things. Like when I decided to apply for the General Manager's job on Raw. Logic told me it was a waste of time. Why would McMahon consider Andrade Almas' business manager for a role like that? But I had a feeling that I should go ahead and apply anyway."

"And now look at you," Drew said after downing some of his beer.

Uncharacteristically, Zelina was made to feel a little shy by that. The feeling told her she was attracted to him as much as anything else that had happened between them so far. Not wanting to let on, she said the first thing that came to mind. "Yes, look at me now, late for a date because Vince McMahon is giving me crap on the phone."

"He was? What about?" Drew asked.

"Mainly warning me not to make Raw all about a power trip for me."

Drew laughed. "That's rich, coming from him. Jesus Christ."

Zelina laughed also. "That's exactly what I thought. I told him I wasn't on a power trip, I simply want a few good people around me."

"And you want one of them to be the Universal Champion."

"And that," she giggled. "By the time the Royal Rumble is over, we'll be well on the way to making that happen."

"I'll drink to that," Drew said, raising his glass for a toast.

Zelina picked up her glass and copied the gesture, and they both drank.

Before long, their meals were delivered. The conversation flowed easily between them, and more than two hours passed seemingly in the blink of any eye. By then, they had put away four drinks each. Unaccustomed to drinking that much, Zelina was feeling tipsy. Figuring it was for the best not to go any further, she announced she was going to call it a night.

"Sure, it's getting late anyway," Drew agreed easily. He downed the remains of his final beer and stood up from the table.

Before eating, Zelina had taken her jacket off. She put it back on now, and walked with Drew out of the bar and across the lobby to the elevators. "Thank you for tonight," she said while they waited for an elevator to come down to the lobby. "I enjoyed the food and your company. I hope I didn't talk about work too much? It's given so much on my mind lately, it's hard to turn it off."

"You didn't talk about it too much. Besides, when we were talking about it, I enjoyed it."

Zelina felt like that had sounded a bit corny, but she didn't let on. The elevator arriving gave her cover not to respond right away. There was a more important thing on her mind anyway. Shortly, they were going to have to part ways. How exactly would she handle that this time?

When Drew pressed the button for the fourth floor, one potential option was ruled out. He was on the same floor as her, so they wouldn't be parting in the elevator as they had last time. Alright, he can walk me back to my room, she decided.

"What floor?" he asked her.

"Four. Same as you. So you can walk me back to my room."

"Yes, boss," Drew said, amused by her lapse into the directness that was used by General Manager Zelina.

She looked up at him and tried to put on her best sultry expression. "You like a woman to be the boss of you, is that it?"

"I wouldn't complain if it was you," he replied, openly flirting with her.

Biting her bottom lip seductively, Zelina maintained eye contact with him for a few seconds before saying, "I'll keep that in mind."

The elevator reached the fourth floor and the doors slid open. Zelina walked out right away, leaving Drew to follow her. He caught up with her, but her room was only a few doors along from the elevators. "This is me," she announced, stopping and looking up at him. "Thank you again for a lovely night."

"No, thank you. I had a great time," Drew said.

Zelina detected uncertainty from him. He was contemplating going in for a goodnight kiss, but was unsure if that was what she wanted. She took charge of the situation by stretching up towards him. He responded by leaning down, and they locked lips for a moment. Zelina gave him enough to leave the taste of her in his mouth, hopefully making him want more.

"Goodnight, Drew. We should do this again," she smiled.

"I'll look forward to it. Goodnight."

He might not have wanted to, but Drew walked away, heading for his own room. Zelina watched him go, realising that part of her wished she had invited him into her room. It had only been their second date, though, and she didn't want to move too fast. Maybe if he managed to win the Royal Rumble, they could celebrate in the best possible way, she thought.


	11. Chapter 11

In the weeks leading up to the Royal Rumble, Zelina Vega had been doing a lot of planning, both in her role as Raw's General Manager and in her role as the boss of The Vega Cartel. The most important item on that particular agenda was ensuring Drew McIntyre won the Royal Rumble, thereby guaranteeing himself a spot in the main event of Wrestlemania, competing for the Universal Championship. To that end, she had added Seth Rollins, Baron Corbin and Drew McIntyre to the rumble match, with instructions to do whatever was necessary to aid McIntyre.

It would be double duty for Rollins, who was also booked to defend the Intercontinental Championship against Elias. Back when she had been forming her cartel, Vega had seriously considered Elias as a potential member. Thankfully, she had decided against it because since then Elias has started pandering to the fans with his songs, and was now one of the most popular members of the Raw roster. Vega considered it pathetic how some people craved popularity like that. As she well knew, it wasn't whether people liked you that mattered, it was whether they respected you. And despite the abuse she took from the fans every week, she felt sure that deep down they respected the job she was doing as GM.

The third piece of business was the Women's Royal Rumble, where Bayley would be representing the cartel. What a feat it would be if the group could have all of its members competing in title matches at Wrestlemania. Considering that Vega planned to give an opportunity to Corbin and Ciampa for the Raw Tag Team Championships at the event as well, it was a real possibility.

Unlike the men's rumble match, Vega hadn't been able to add a bunch of backup for Bayley. With that being the case, the odds would have been stacked against her winning. An idea had come to Vega, though, and she thought it was a brilliant one. The first phase of implementing it involved sitting down with Baron Corbin in the hope of persuading to do something for her. Luckily for her, since she had taken charge of Raw, Corbin had been acting like a puppy with a new owner, always following her around, eager to please and impress. At times it felt like if he was small enough, she would have been able to carry him around in a purse.

Playing up to the way Corbin felt about her, Vega had decided to visit his hotel room in person to ask for the favour she needed from him, figuring it would make him more likely to give her the answer she wanted. As she knocked on his door, she looked forward to seeing the look on his face when he opened it. It would be similar to when he held the ropes open for her every time she went in or out of the ring on Raw, hoping that he would receive some kind of acknowledgement from his master.

The door opened, and Corbin stood there with the exact expression she had expected on his face. He was acting like he was meeting the President or something.

"Zelina, what a nice, uh, surprise," Corbin floundered.

"I told you I was coming in a text five minutes ago," Vega pointed out, unable to resist.

"Right. And it was a nice surprise," he said awkwardly as he stood aside. "Come in, please. What can I do for you?"

Vega walked into the room. "I need to ask you to do something, not just for me, for the cartel."

"Of course. Anything you need," Corbin said subserviently as he followed her into the room and gestured for her to have a seat on the couch.

Sitting down, Vega waiting until he sat beside her before saying anything more. She had reservations about whether his 'anything' would include the request she was about to make. "This isn't an easy thing for me to ask of you," she said, laying it on thick.

"Really, anything you need," Corbin assured her. "Just tell me what it is."

Vega looked him in the eye, wondering if she came across as a damsel in distress. "I need you to resign a Deputy General Manager, Baron."

"Oh," Corbin said slowly, looking taken aback. Unsurprisingly, he hadn't seen that coming. "Can I ask why? Have I not done the job well enough?"

"It's not that," Vega said reassuringly. "There are two reasons. Firstly, you we carried over from the old regime in that role. Obviously you've proven yourself to be a good Deputy GM, but I feel it's important for me to make my own appointment now that I'm settled in." And I'll make it someone I can trust to handle some of my workload, she didn't add.

Corbin looked deflated. "What's the other reason?" he wanted to know.

"I'm going to offer the position to someone in exchange for making sure Bayley wins the Royal Rumble. As you know, it's of vital, vital importance to us that she gets that win, and goes on to defeat Rousey at Wrestlemania, assuming Ronda is still the champion by then."

"This will help the cartel that much?" Corbin asked, seemingly wavering over the decision he had been presented with.

Vega put a hand on his knee, knowing full well the effect it would have on him. "I know this is hard for you, Baron. I don't like having to ask, believe me. And please don't think this is a negative reflection on you. I want to assure you that you are, and will remain, a crucial member of The Vega Cartel. That's why I'm going to give you and Tommaso and tag team title match at Wrestlemania."

Corbin folded almost immediately in the face of her praise and promises. "Okay. If that's what you need, and it's best for the cartel, I will resign."

"Thank you, Baron," Vega said smoothly. "The world needs more good, loyal people like you. I really appreciate it."

"Of course. Like I said, anything for you, Zelina. I only hope the person you're going to appoint has the cartel's best interests in mind."

Zelina removed her hand from his knee and flashed him a smile. "Trust me, I've got it covered."

* * *

Vega's visit to Baron Corbin's hotel room had been on Saturday night, twenty four hours before the Royal Rumble. Now, backstage before the pay-per-view, she was ready to move on to phase two of her plan to ensure Bayley won the women's rumble match. It was time to make the offer to the person who was hopefully the incoming Acting General Manager.

Willing to help out as ever, Corbin had gone to find the person Vega wanted to speak to, in order to send them to the General Manager's office. The other cartel members had been told to make themselves scarce for a while, so Zelina was the only person in the room. She relaxed on the couch, sipping from a glass of delicious red wine. If all went well, she would be proposing a toast before much longer.

The new recruit was going to be perfect for Vega, she knew. There were of like mind in many ways, and the new Acting GM was a lot smarter than Baron Corbin. That meant Zelina could pass on some of her workload to someone reliable, giving her a bit more time to herself. Being able to get a second opinion on some decisions also wouldn't be a bad thing.

Shortly, there was a knock on the door. It opened, and the woman Vega had been waiting for walked in. She was smiling, but there was more than a hint of confusion on her face. "You asked to see me?" she ventured.

"Yes, I did. Have a seat. Drink?" Vega offered.

"Sure. Thank you," the visitor said with a smile as she sat down.

Vega poured some wine into a glass and handed it to the other woman.

"Thank you, Zelina. So, what can I do for you?"

Vega gave a cunning smile. "It's more what we can do for each other. As of last night, Baron Corbin has resigned as Acting General Manager. The position is available, and I've identified you as the person I would most like to appoint."

A smile appeared on the visitor's face, and she took a thoughtful sip from her glass. "That's nice wine," she said appreciatively, before getting back to business. "I'm interested in the job. I can see myself working with you."

"Exactly what I thought," Vega said. "You and I are likeminded on many things."

"We are. I will say, though, that if you're looking for someone like Corbin; someone who will kiss your ass all the time, I'm not the one for you."

Vega nodded. "I know that. I want someone with a brain. There is a lot of work that comes with running a brand as big as this, and Corbin hasn't been pulling his weight in that regard. You won't just be working three hours a week at Raw, you'll be doing a lot behind the scenes as well. I'm talking preparing reports for the office, booking matches, basically anything you can do to assist me."

"That's what I was about to ask. I'm not interesting in being some lackey for you. But you're saying I'll have some control over booking matches?"

Vega nodded again. "Absolutely you will. I'm thinking you can oversee matters not directly related to Vega Cartel business, allowing me more time to focus on that side of things."

"Then I'm definitely interested," the visitor said. "I assume I'm about to find out what I have to do before you'll appoint me?"

"You certainly are," Vega said with a hint of humour. "I'll make you Deputy General Manager if you make sure Bayley win the rumble match later tonight."

The visitor's eyes widened a little and she grimaced. "I was planning on winning it for myself."

"I'm sure you were. But that's the deal. You help Bayley win the rumble, you earn yourself a position of power on Raw. What do you say?" Vega asked, her eyes piercing into those of her visitor.

It only took a moment of deliberation for a decision to be reached. "Alright, Zelina, you've got yourself a deal."


	12. Chapter 12

Zelina Vega was literally on the edge of her seat, watching the women's Royal Rumble match on the big flat screen TV on the wall. She was alone in her office because Bayley was in the ring and the male cartel members had gone to the locker room to prepare for their own rumble match.

Four women remained in the ring. Crucially, as far as Vega was concerned, Bayley was one of them, and the potential new Deputy General Manager of Raw was another.

"We're down to four!" Michael Cole was saying on commentary. "Bayley and Alexa Bliss from Raw, Charlotte Flair and Carmella from Smackdown. One of these women is going to Wrestlemania! Who's it going to be?"

The remaining competitors were all on their feet, and had each retreated into a corner of the ring, catching their breath before the final battle. Of the four, only Carmella was popular with the fans. Charlotte had recently turned against them, enraged by their insistence on supporting Becky Lynch in their long term rivalry.

Willing to do anything necessary to get closer to the winning post, Flair began trying to talk first Bayley and then Alexa into teaming up on Carmella. Bayley looked at Alexa, who nodded her willingness to go along with what Flair had in mind. The three allies all turned their attention to the fabulous one, and began slowly advancing towards the corner she was standing in.

Carmella didn't show any sign of intimidation, despite the seemingly impossible odds that now faced her. She appeared to be of the mindset that if she was going to go down, she would do her best to take at least one of her opponents with her. Charlotte was the one she chose to go after, rushing her and flailing away with right hands.

Flair went down under Carmella's attack, but Bayley and Alexa were on her quickly, both grabbing hold of her and dragging her across the ring. The fans booed the cowardly teaming, not that that was going to have any effect on proceedings.

Alexa punched Carmella square in the face, sending her collapsing to the mat. Bayley quickly set about stomping on her, showing absolutely no mercy. Bliss joined in, standing the other side of Carmella.

Looking pleased with what she was seeing, Charlotte got back to her feet. "Pick her up!" she ordered the other two assailants.

Alexa and Bayley complied, hauling Carmella to a standing position. Bayley had hold of her from behind, pinning her arms behind her back, rendering her helpless to defend herself against Charlotte, who was lining up a finishing blow.

Sprinting forwards, Flair delivered a big boot that nearly took Carmella's head clean off her shoulders. There was a groan of disappointment from the fans as it dawned on them that this was the end for the one person they would have liked to see win the match.

Barely had Carmella's limp body hit the mat before Alexa was picking her up again. Bayley stood back and watched while Bliss hauled Carmella to the ropes and managed to manoeuvre her up and over, depositing her outside to the floor.

While that was happening, Charlotte had seen an opportunity presenting itself. While eliminating Carmella, Alexa had her back to the other two women in the ring. Flair took advantage by running over there, grabbing both of Bliss's legs and flipping her over the top rope. She landed next to Carmella on the floor. In a matter of seconds, four competitors had become two.

For a second, Bayley appeared to consider rushing Charlotte, but thought better of it. There was a possibility it could have led to her own elimination, and Bayley was too calculating to risk that.

Turning around, Charlotte locked eyes with the former hugger. One of them was going to Wrestlemania. The other was leaving with nothing. "Me and you, Bayley! Let's see what you've got!" Flair shouted, limbering up.

Unnoticed behind her, Alexa climbed up onto the ring apron, reached into the ring and grabbed two fistfuls of Charlotte's hair. With Flair screaming in pain, Alexa dragged her backwards towards the ropes.

Charlotte struggled for all she was worth to free herself from Bliss's grasp. The distraction had already been made, though. Bayley hurried over to her one remaining opponent and began trying to lever her over the ropes. With Alexa pulling from one side and Bayley lifting from the other, there was nothing Charlotte could do to save herself. She went over the top rope and fall to the floor.

It was hardly an emphatic victory to be proud of for Bayley, but it was a victory nonetheless. The bell sounded and The Vega Cartel's music began to play.

In her office, Zelina Vega gave a fist pump of celebration and cheered loudly while her underling celebrated on the screen in an arrogant manner. Vega's masterplan had come off. Alexa Bliss had helped Bayley, as agreed, and would therefore go on to be appointed as the new Raw Deputy General Manger after the show went off air. The most important thing was that Bayley would represent the cartel at Wrestlemania, going for the Raw Women's Championship.

Watching Bayley continue to celebrate in the ring, Vega finished off her glass of wine. It was the only celebration she would allow herself yet. There was still the men's rumble match to come, and she needed to get ready to accompany Drew McIntyre to the ring when his number came up. It felt like this was close to a last chance saloon if he was going to become Universal Champion. He had been so close to beating Lesnar at TLC, but now if he failed in the rumble match, he was facing the real possibility of being left out of the title picture for some time to come. If that happened, it would be devastating for Drew, devastating for Zelina, and devastating for the cartel.

"But it's not going to happen," she told herself with steadfast determination.

* * *

Number twenty six. Not the perfect number to draw in a thirty man field, but not far from it. Vega had certainly been relieved when McIntyre had retrieved that number from the little plastic ball he had pulled out of the tombola in Vince McMahon's office prior to the show.

Fiddling the draw wouldn't have been beyond her if she had been in charge of it, but once the Chairman had shown up and announced that he would be handling proceedings, they had been in the lap of the gods. Thankfully though, the cartel members, with the exception of the number four drawn by Seth Rollins, had fared well with the numbers they had gotten.

Now, with the countdown in progress for entrant number twenty six, Baron Corbin and Tommaso Ciampa were the only two people left in the match. Ciampa had entered at twenty four, and the pair had since cleared the ring of all the other competitors. Sadly, Rollins had been eliminated earlier on, but that was the only minor concern Vega had. Seth had even retained the Intercontinental title earlier in the show. The night could not realistically have been going better for the cartel up to this point.

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

The buzzer sounded.

When The Vega Cartel's music began to play for the fourth time in the match, it drew groans of disappointment and some jeers. No one in the crowd wanted to see the cartel dominating like this. In the weeks prior to the match, Vega had promised a McIntyre victory. Now, given the situation, it was hard to imagine any other outcome. There would be three cartel men in the ring, and no one else.

As ever, Vega was fired up when she led her star man out to the ring. They posed in front of the stage, with her pointing proudly up at him. With that done, they walked down to the ring. There was no need to hurry, since there was no one in there to fight.

When the boss approached the ring, Corbin and Ciampa walked over to the ropes on the entrance side of the ring, obviously waiting to see if she had any fresh instructions for them. Vega decided to keep it simple, thinking that things had gone well enough so far. "You know what to do," she shouted up at them. "As people come in, you throw them out, one by one. Understand?"

"Got it, Zelina," Corbin said, while Ciampa just nodded an acknowledgement.

After watching McIntyre climb into the ring, Zelina walked around the side of it. She wanted to stand on the side opposite the entrance, out of the way of whoever was left to enter the match. Her vantage point would also be perfect for watching the clock count down, and seeing the entrance video of the entrant in the same moment their music dropped.

"Come on. Just four easy eliminations, that's all we need," she muttered to herself. She reached the back side of the ring in time to see a clock appear on the big screen, counting down from ten. Naturally, the arena full of idiots joined in with each number.

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

Kane's music began to play, drawing a rather unimpressive cheer from the crowd.

Vega closed her eyes for a second. Entrant number twenty seven could definitely have been kinder on her. If Kane got on a roll, her men could be in trouble.

"Get on him as soon as he's in the ring!" she barked at them.

Kane walked methodically to the ring, climbed up onto the apron, then stepped over the top rope. Corbin ran at him as soon as he officially entered the match, catching a powerful right hand for his troubles. It knocked him down.

Ciampa ran in next, meeting the same fate.

McIntyre was third to try his look. He threw a punch, but Kane blocked it and delivered one of his own, taking Drew off his feet.

"No!" Zelina raged, slapping the ring apron with her hand in anger. It was all going wrong because they weren't working together as a unit!

Corbin got back up, only to be sent back down with another right hand.

Turning around, Kane caught Ciampa coming in and hit him with yet another right hand.

Finally, from Zelina's point of view, someone other than her used their brain. McIntyre came at Kane from behind, and instead of trying to get into a fist fight with him, launching himself at the back of the monster's knee, delivering a chop block that was simple, but effective.

"Good! Now get on him!" Vega screamed as Kane went down.

Like a pack of dogs, all three cartel members swarmed Kane, kicking and punching him.

Still Kane wouldn't stay down. He powerfully fended the trio off, knocking Ciampa on his ass in the process. McIntyre took another of the vicious right hands, sending him staggering into a corner.

Kane turned around and jogged towards Corbin. Shockingly, the former Deputy GM was able to pick Kane up and hit him with an End of Days. The impact when the monster hit the mat echoed around the arena.

For the first time since forming the cartel, Vega was genuinely impressed by something Corbin had done. "Yes, Baron!" she screamed, applauding him. She was about to order her men to throw Kane out while he was dazed, but they were already on it.

Ciampa and McIntyre were dragging Kane to his feet, and with Corbin's assistance, they were able to bundle him over the top rope into elimination.

Relief washed over Vega. Kane could have caused serious problems for her cartel, and also could have lasted long enough for the next entrant to arrive, possibly to help him. She was grateful for the fact that neither of those things had happened.

The countdown for entrant number twenty eight began only seconds after Kane hit the floor. As always, the fans joined in with the count.

"Come on," Vega said under her breath. There were three more people to come. All she needed was three easy eliminations.

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

Samoa Joe's music hit, bringing the fans to their feet.

"God damn it!" Vega raged. Why were there so many heavy hitters with late numbers?

Joe jogged to the ring, showing no intimidation in the face of the three on one situation he was about to get into. As with Kane before him, as soon as he entered the ring, he found himself having to throw frantic right hands to beat back the cartel members.

Once he had dealt with the initial assault, Joe caught McIntyre with a superkick, sending him to the mat, lucky not to be knocked out cold.

Corbin rushed Joe from behind, shoving him forwards and into the ropes in an attempt to eliminate him. Somehow, Joe was able was lever Corbin onto his back, manoeuvre him around, and send him falling over the top rope instead. One of the cartel trio was gone.

Ciampa attempted to capitalise on Joe being distracted by eliminating Corbin, running at him with the intent to clothesline him over the top rope. Joe saw him coming in time and countered with a back body drop, sending Ciampa over the top rope. Corbin caught his teammate, but fell over in the process, and Ciampa's feet touched the floor.

On the other side of the ring, Vega watched in wide-eyed disbelief. Two of her three men were eliminated in the blink of an eye. Only McIntyre, her star man, remained.

Drew was back up, and as Joe walked away from the ropes, McIntyre was already running at him. A Claymore put an emphatic end to the big man.

McIntyre dragged the unconscious Joe to his feet and discarded him over the top rope like a sack of garbage. The cartel were down to one man, but that one man was the only person in the rumble, with just two entrants to go.

Before long, the countdown started again. Vega and McIntyre made eye contact. "You've got this!" she shouted, barely able to stand still, full of excitement and nervous energy. The big prize was within touching distance.

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

The buzzer sounded.

"Bang! It's me, it's me, it's DDP!"

The fans were cheering again, loving the return of the popular star. For her part, Vega was relieved. Sure, Page had been a good wrestler back in the day, but he was way past his prime now, and would likely pose no real threat to Drew McIntyre.

And so it proved to be. DDP got the fans right behind him by managing to get some offense in when he hit the ring, but in going for a Diamond Cutter and failing to get it, he sealed his own fate after only a minute in the match. A Claymore led to elimination, and McIntyre was still standing.

"One more! One more!" Vega screamed at him.

McIntyre looked back her and nodded confidently.

The atmosphere in the arena was on a knife edge now. Everyone knew that if McIntyre was going to be beaten, the next and final entrant had to be the one to do it.

"Come on. Someone easy," Vega pleaded to herself when the countdown began.

Of the fifty six times that night the fans had counted down from ten, this one was by far the loudest. Vega noticed that everyone was on their feet, facing the stage.

"Come on," she repeated, closing her eyes, praying for some good luck.

"Five!"

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

The buzzer sounded.

"If you smell…"

The arena was engulfed in a roar of disbelief and delight. Of all the possibilities, no one had considered The Rock, least of all Vega. In shock, she felt like her legs were going to buckle underneath her.

The Rock walked out into the arena, heading briskly towards the ring, the fans literally roaring him on. He didn't make it as far as the ring before he was confronted by Corbin and Ciampa. Having recovered from their eliminations, they now stood at the end of the entrance aisle, trying to block the way.

Rock wasted no time in hammering away on both men with right hands. After taking several blows each, first Corbin and then Ciampa received one of his extra powerful punches, knocking them down.

Ciampa was back up first, but he quickly received a spine buster onto the floor, knocking him out.

Corbin came at Rock next, throwing a right hand that missed wildly. All he succeeded in doing was landing himself in the setup position for a Rock Bottom. The people's champion delivered the move, leaving Corbin out of the game.

What Rock hadn't bargained on was McIntyre coming out of the ring to join in the fight. Drew, with the element of surprise, was able to grab his opponent from behind and shove him face first into the ring post.

"Yes!" Vega screamed frantically. "Get him in the ring! Get him in the ring!"

McIntyre did as she instructed, rolling Rock under the bottom rope. Feeling like he had control, McIntyre attempted to whip Rock into the ropes, setting him up for a Claymore.

Rock revered the whip, however, sending McIntyre into the ropes instead. When the Scot rebounded, Rock caught him with a spine buster. The fans erupted, knowing what that was the setup for.

With her hands on her head in despair, Vega watched Rock standing next to McIntyre's head, slowly removing his elbow pad. If he hit the people's elbow, it was all going to be over. This was a disaster.

Rock began the finishing move by rebounding off the ropes on the entrance side of the ring. He jumped over McIntyre, heading for the ropes on the opposite side.

Vega realised she had to do something. She couldn't just stand there and watch this happen. Luckily, Rock was running towards her. Timing it perfectly, she reached under the bottom rope and grabbed his ankle. She had hoped to trip him. Although that didn't happen, she did manage to stop him, and he rounded on her, a look of surprise and anger on his face.

"This is The Vega Cartel's night!" she roared at him defiantly.

Rock realised he had taken his attention off his opponent. He corrected the mistake by quickly turning around, right into a Future Shock DDT from McIntyre. A loud groan of disappointment came from the crowd.

"That's it!" McIntyre yelled emphatically, certain that he had just secured himself the victory.

Bending down, McIntyre hauled Rock to his feet. He grabbed the Miami native by the head and started running towards the ropes, set to launch him over the top rope.

Everything seemed to go into slow motion for Vega in that moment. Victory seemed to be at hand, but somehow The Rock countered the positon he was in, spun around, grabbed McIntyre by the head instead, and it was the big man who was sent flying over the tope rope.

Vega's mouth fell open in shock. It was over. The Rock had won. The bell was being rung, and his music had started to play. McIntyre, her chosen one, was out of sight on the floor. She couldn't believe it. They'd had it in the bag, until The Rock showed up. How was he even in the rumble match? Why was he in the rumble match? She didn't have answers to any of those questions.

Instinct took over. Trying to shut out the cheers of the crowd as best she could, she walked around the ring towards Drew, needing to make sure he was okay. She was just in time to see him punch the floor, and she heard him yell, "Shit!" He was furious, understandably so, but apparently unhurt.

"I had him beat! I had him!" McIntyre insisted as she approached him.

Vega crouched down beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder, trying to find the right words.

"What was he doing in the rumble?" McIntyre asked next, eyes full of rage. "What are we going to do?"

They were great questions. Vega couldn't respond to him. Uncharacteristically, she didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to do.


	13. Chapter 13

Walking through the curtain to the back, with Drew McIntyre just behind her, Zelina Vega felt the shock of what had happened leaving her. It was being replaced by fiery anger that burned as hot as a thousand suns. Someone, presumably Vince McMahon, had put The Rock in Royal Rumble, and by doing so, had completely ruined her plan for McIntyre to become champion.

Needing to vent some of her anger, Vega wanted to throw something; kick something; do whatever she had to in order to let it out. After storming through Gorilla, she saw McMahon himself ahead of her in the wide corridor.

The Chairman was standing there talking to a couple of his staff. He was laughing, looking delighted with himself over what had happened. Vega saw red, quickening her pace and heading right for him.

"Zelina, not now!" McIntyre called after her.

Vega barely heard him. She had only one thing in mind: giving McMahon a piece of her mind. "What the hell was that?" she demanded aggressively as she approached the group of men.

"Oh, Zelina," Vince said jovially. "Bad luck. But look on the bright side, The Rock will be in your main event at Wrestlemania."

"How is that a bright side?" Vega thundered. "I had everything riding on that match! Everything! And you fucked me!"

Unsurprisingly, McMahon didn't react well to being spoken to in that manner. His joviality disappeared and a warning tone came into his voice. "Mind who you're talking to like that, Zelina."

"No, I won't mind who I'm talking to!" she raged. "Why don't I lie down so you can piss in my mouth while you're at it?"

Vega felt a hand on her shoulder from behind. "Zel, that's enough," McIntyre said, trying to calm her with his tone.

Vince looked Drew in the eye and said, "Get her out of here before I do something we're all going to regret."

It suddenly dawned on Vega how far over the line she had stepped. Livid or not, she couldn't talk to her boss like that. For that reason, she forced herself to keep her mouth shut and allow McIntyre to lead her past the group, in the direction of her office.

"Christ, Zel," McIntyre said once they were out of McMahons earshot. "I've never seen anyone go off like that in my life."

"Nice to know you're so calm about getting screwed over," she replied moodily.

"I'm not calm about it," he assured her with a edge to his voice. "I'm just not going to get myself fired over it. Besides, we need to be thinking about what we're going to do to put this right."

As his sentence was finishing, they reached the General Manager's office. Vega slammed the door open, realising that Drew was right. Her strength was in being one of the smartest people in WWE. There was a way to fix this mess. But what was it? She had to try and calm down so that she could focus on the problem.

Baron Corbin and Tommaso Ciampa, having been taken out by The Rock, had been left behind at ringside. For that reason, Seth Rollins and Bayley were the only ones sitting on the couches when Vega entered. Despite Bayley's earlier success, they looked glum. They knew full well what a blow The Rock had just dealt to the cartel.

"This is bull," Seth ventured as McIntyre closed the door behind them.

"What are we going to do?" Bayley wanted to know. "We're looking at having everyone apart from Drew in a title match at Wrestlemania."

McIntyre let out an anguished roar as his own frustrations boiled over.

Looking at him, Vega felt for him in that moment. As much as what had happened enraged her, he was the one who had actually been so close to beating Lesnar at TLC, and then so close to winning the rumble. No one deserved luck this bad, let alone Drew.

The office door crashed open again, and Ciampa led Corbin into the room, both looking worse for wear.

"I've had it!" Ciampa raged at Vega. "Tomorrow night, we eliminate The Rock!"

His words triggered an idea in Vega's head. Eliminating The Rock wouldn't be the way to go. McMahon would fire her for sure if she did that, and that was assuming Rock even showed up for Raw, which she doubted. Eliminate was the word she had latched on to. It was perfect. Elimination Chamber was the pay-per-view event in February. There was one last chance to get Drew to Wrestlemania. She turned to her chosen one, and they locked eyes.

"What are you thinking, Zel?" he asked, using the informal name in front of the others without thinking about it.

"You're going to be in the Elimination Chamber," she announced firmly. "And you're going to win. You're going to win it, and you're going into Wrestlemania as champion."

"And if he doesn't?" Corbin wondered, sounding sceptical about it.

Zelina turned slowly towards him, a fierce glare on her face. "No matter what we have to do, he will win."

No one would have dared to argue with her, even if they had wanted to.

* * *

Later that night, Vega was sitting in her hotel room, trying to wind down by catching up with one of her favourite shows on her tablet. She had fancied a glass of wine, but had imposed some self-discipline, thinking that she had been drinking a bit too much since taking the job as General Manager.

The show was enjoyable as always, but Vega couldn't fully focus on it. Her anger at what had happened in the men's rumble match was still there in the back of her mind. McMahon had appointed her to her position and supposedly given her full control over Raw, yet here he was bringing a part time guy back and giving him the number thirty spot.

"That's another thing," Vega grumbled irritably. As if bringing The Rock back without even discussing it with her wasn't bad enough, Vince had to have specified Rock as number thirty. She refused to believe he had happened to draw the best number at random from the tombola. No, the whole thing was a bunch of crap, and it was her and Drew McIntyre who had suffered as a result of it.

The cartel should have been enjoying a night of celebration tonight. After what had happened, though, even with Bayley having won, no one other than Bayley had really felt anything like in the mood for it. A sour taste had been left in all of their mouths.

Oddly, a knock came on Vega's door. She had ordered no room service, and it was late. Who would be knocking on her door at this time? Grunting a laugh, she decided it probably wasn't McMahon coming to apologise for his stupidity. If anything, she was going to have to swallow her pride and apologise to him prior to Raw the next night, making amends for how she had spoken to him.

With a sigh, Vega paused the show she was watching, got up and walked over to open the door. When she did, she was surprised to see McIntyre standing there. "Oh, hey," she said, instinctively smiling up at him.

"I hope you don't mind me coming to your room?" he asked.

Vega stood aside to admit him. "Of course not. Come in." He walked past her, and she followed him over to the table where she had been sitting a moment before. "I can't offer you a drink. I don't have anything. Unless you want to get the coffee machine going, but I think it's a bit late for that."

"I'm good," McIntyre assured her as he sat down.

To Vega, he looked troubled by something. She re-took her seat, opposite him, and looked him in the eye. "What's on your mind?"

McIntyre sighed and shook his head. "Disappointment, mainly. In myself, I mean. I feel like you picked me out of everyone on the entire Raw roster to go for the Universal title, and I've now failed to get the job done twice. I've let myself down, and I've let you down."

Zelina's eyes widened in surprise. She had never seen Drew lacking confidence like he was now. It came across like he had been sitting in his room dwelling on this. While it was technically true that he had failed twice, he had been damn close to succeeding on both occasions. There was no doubting his talent, but it seemed he needed a bit of an injection of self-belief after coming up short in two massive matches in succession.

"Look, you've not let me down," she said reassuringly. "You've not let yourself down. At TLC, you gave Brock Lesnar an ass kicking like almost no one has before, and arguably it was my fault it all went wrong that night. I tried to get involved in the match, and I feel like it probably distracted you as much as it did Lesnar. And tonight, you lost to The Rock. As angry as I am about him being in the match, he's one of the greatest ever in our business. There's no shame in losing to him, especially when he had the element of surprise on his side. What I want you to do – what we all need to do as a group – is look ahead, not back. Corbin and Ciampa are going to Wrestlemania. Bayley is going to Wrestlemania, and damn it, you're going too. You're the best wrestler on Raw. Nothing that's happened this past couple of months has changed my mind about that. At Elimination Chamber, you're going to prove it to the world."

Her inspiring words had dragged McIntyre out of his slump, she could see it in his eyes. "You know what, you're right," he said, finding some of his usual determination. "I've only got one chance left to go to Wrestlemania; one chance left to become Universal Champion. And I'm going to do it. It's not going to matter who else is in that chamber, I'm going to kick their arses, and I'm going to walk out with the title."

"I'd drink to that, if there was something to drink with," Vega said, feeling a real sense of pride at what she had just heard.

McIntyre smiled for the first time since coming to her suite. "Well, if we can't drink to it now, how about me make a deal? I win the title at Elimination Chamber, you let me take you on a proper date. I don't mean a few drinks in the hotel, I mean dinner at a nice restaurant."

Vega felt something flutter in her stomach. She was definitely falling for him. "Deal," she said simply, resisting the urge to lean across the table and kiss him. "To hell with it. Get onto room service and get a bottle of wine up here."

McIntyre gave her a little salute before getting up. "Yes, boss."


	14. Chapter 14

To open Raw, the entire Vega Cartel had come out to the ring. Following the events of the night before at the Royal Rumble, only Bayley looked the least bit happy among the smartly dressed group. Vega herself was in a particularly foul mood, which wasn't likely to be improved by the loud booing she received as soon as her group's entrance music faded out.

"I'm not in the mood, so be quiet," she told the fans when she raised her microphone for the first time. More boos rained down in response. Trying her best to ignore them, Vega looked up at Drew McIntyre, the man who should have been standing there as the winner of the Royal Rumble. Just thinking that made her want to explode with rage. Even after having twenty four hours to cool off, she was livid at Vince McMahon and livid at The Rock. Luckily, she at least had a plan in mind to deal with the situation.

"Last night," she began, "Drew McIntyre and The Vega Cartel were robbed of victory in the men's Royal Rumble match by Vince McMahon, and by The Rock." The fans cheered the mention of The Rock's name, their reaction being ignored by Vega. "I was not told The Rock was going to be in the match. The Vega Cartel were not prepared for The Rock to be in the match. It seems Vince McMahon decided to work directly against me last night, and I told exactly what I thought of him and what I thought of what happened right after the show went off air."

Vega saw a hint of humour in McIntyre's eyes at that, as he remembered her going off the deep end. She got the impression that he very much liked that fiery side of her. That was something to file away in the back of her mind.

"As you all heard The Rock say himself after the Royal Rumble match," she proceeded, "The Rock has chosen to face Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania, for the Universal Championship." A crafty look appeared on her face. "But that relies on Brock Lesnar making it to Wrestlemania as the Universal Champion, and trust me, that is a long way from guaranteed. Why do I say that?"

Much to her anger, when she paused, Vega heard people trying to get the 'Fuck you, Vega!' chant going. It was starting to become a regular thing, and she didn't like it at all. Even worse, her pause encouraged more people to join in. Much to her surprise, McIntyre took the microphone out of her hand and put the fans on blast.

"Start showing some bloody respect!" he roared at them, drawing loud boos in response. "This is the Raw General Manager who's addressing you! This is the leader of The Vega Cartel who's addressing you, so shut your damn mouths!"

Vega glared out at the herd of idiots, who were even more riled up now than they had been before. Nonetheless, she appreciated McIntyre going in to bat for her. "Thank you," she said quietly as he deferentially handed the microphone back to her.

"As I was trying to say," she spat, "Brock Lesnar may well not be the Universal Champion by the time we get to Wrestlemania. That's because we have an upcoming pay-per-view event called Elimination Chamber. I can confirm now that the Universal Championship will be defended by Brock Lesnar inside the Elimination Chamber. I can also confirm that the Scottish Psychopath Drew McIntyre will be one of challengers in that match. And if you want a spoiler, it will be Drew McIntyre who walks out as Universal Champion and goes on to represent The Vega Cartel at Wrestlemania as champion!"

The fans booed her confident prediction, while McIntyre stood there with a smug smile on his face.

Ronda Rousey's music began to play, bringing the fans to their feet. Surprised and angered by the interruption, Vega whipped around to face the stage, seeing Rousey already marching quickly out into the arena.

"What's she doing out here?" Bayley asked, sounding concerned. As the Royal Rumble winner, she would be the one to face Ronda at Wrestlemania, a fact that Vega would have moved on to address if she had been given the time without the rude intrusion.

"I've got this," Vega told Bayley as Rousey approached the ring, slapping the hands of as many idiots as she could along the way.

Vega had been of the opinion for a while that something needed to be done about the way Rousey walked around like she owned the women's division. She needed to be put in her place, and Zelina decided she would be the one to do it.

Rousey entered the ring, microphone in one hand and Raw Women's Championship in the other. Vega waited impatiently while she smiled around the arena at the morons who were cheering for her.

"Bayley, I don't know why you're hiding behind Zelina," Ronda said eventually. The smile had disappeared from her face and she was now glaring at her future challenger. "Firstly, there won't be anyone to hide behind come Wrestlemania, when you're on one side of the ring and I'm on the other, ready to tear your arm out of its socket." The fans cheered. "And secondly, if I decided to come for you right now, do you really there's anything Zelina could do about it?"

It was the final straw for Vega, who was done with being disrespected. "Oh, trust me, I can do plenty about it, Ronda. I know you're a bit slow on the uptake, so let me spell it out for you." She began talking slowly, as if to a simpleton. "I am the General Manager of Raw. That means this is my show, and this is my ring. So in here? I can do whatever the hell I want."

"So can I," Ronda replied without hesitation. She dropped her microphone to the mat and took a few steps towards Vega and Bayley, who fled and hid behind the male cartel members.

In that moment, Alexa Bliss's music began to play, drawing another cheer. Mercifully, Vega saw Rousey turn to face the stage. The interruption had come at the perfect time. Gulping in a deep breath, Zelina walked slowly around from behind McIntyre while Bliss entered the arena dressed in impeccably smart black business attire. She really did look the part as the new Deputy General Manager – a position that no one outside of the cartel even knew she held as yet.

Watching Bliss walk to the ring, taking in the way she was looking at Rousey like a piece of trash, Vega felt proud of the decision she had made to replace Baron Corbin with Alexa. This woman, like herself, was someone who would take no crap from anyone, and would get things done.

"Actually, Ronda, that's where you're wrong," Bliss said as she reached the bottom of the entrance ramp, talking over the top of her music, which was quickly faded out by the production crew. "You can't do what you want here on Raw because you answer to Zelina Vega, and you answer to me."

Rousey laughed, looking scornfully at Bliss as she entered the ring. "I answer to you, Alexa? I don't know what you've been putting in your protein shakes, but it's clearly doing something to your mind. There will never be a situation where I answer to you."

Bliss gave Rousey a withering look. "As ever, you're wrong, Ronda. You see, forty eight hours ago, Baron Corbin took the courageous decision to resign as the Deputy General Manager of Monday Night Raw, and Zelina Vega appointed me in his place."

For reasons that Vega couldn't understand, the news was cheered by some of the fans. Bliss hated them as much as she did herself, yet for some reason they always continued to cheer Alexa. Rousey looked dumfounded by what she had just learned, something that Vega didn't consider to be much of an achievement.

"Thank you," Bliss said to the fans. "Deputy GM; five time champ; grand slam champ; goddess; there's not much I can't do. So yes, Ronda, you do answer to me, and you don't get to come out here throwing your weight around. What you do get to do is face The Riott Squad in a three on one handicap match later tonight. Maybe that'll teach you some respect?" Alexa finished with a big fake smile on her face.

Vega burst out laughing in delight at that piece of business. Alexa was brilliant! To her surprise, Rousey just shrugged, indifferently accepting the challenge.

"Okay, I'll face The Riott Squad," she said. "As for respect? I accept what you say, Ms Deputy GM. Your position, and even more so the position Zelina occupies command a certain amount of respect. So I guess I have only one option."

Before anyone could react, Rousey launched herself at Bayley, who had come out of cover to stand beside Vega. Ronda's arm smacked into Bayley's face like a baseball bat, knocking the Royal Rumble winner down.

Vega watched in horror as the fans roared Rousey on, loving the fact that she was now straddling Bayley, punching her square in the face. The cartel men were not getting involved, not wanting to put their hands on a woman. Vega realised she was going to have to stop this herself.

"I don't think so, Ronda!" Vega shouted as she grabbed two fistfuls of the blonde's hair and used it to haul her back to a standing position in what had to be an incredibly painful way.

Once Rousey was back on her feet and Vega had let go of her hair, Ronda spun around to face her attacker.

Vega had expected exactly that. Ready to strike, Zelina slapped Ronda's cheek as hard as she could; so hard that her hand hurt from the impact. Rousey's head snapped to the side as a result of the blow.

That'll show her, Vega thought smugly. But then Ronda whipped her head back around, giving Zelina a death glare like only Ronda could.

Realising that she had screwed up badly, Vega's first thought was to try and talk herself out of trouble. It was also her last thought. She saw Ronda's left fist coming at her, too quickly to react to it.

A loud ringing noise was the next thing Vega became are of. Her eyes opened slowly, and she realised she was moving, somehow. Her face hurt like hell.

It took Vega a moment to focus on anything. When she did, she was looking up at Drew McIntyre's face. He wasn't looking down at her. Actually, he was carrying her, she realised.

Piecing things together, she came to the conclusion that Ronda Rousey had knocked her out. Yes, that was it. The bitch had punched her in the face! And what a punch it must have been. She saw that McIntyre had just carried her through the curtain to the back. "She punched me," she groaned groggily.

"Yeah, Zel, she did," McIntyre said sympathetically. "And she took out Bayley and Alexa, too. I managed to get you out of there. We're going to the doctor."

"No doctor," Vega said. "Take me to the office."

"You need to be checked out by a doctor to make sure..."

"Drew, no doctor," she insisted. "I've been punched in the face before. Just take me to the office, please."

Part of Zelina had wanted to ask him to put her down, but she kind of liked the feeling of lying in his arms, held against his chest. She decided to go with in. In any case, her ears were still ringing from the punch.

It only took McIntyre a minute to reach the General Manager's office. He was able to crouch and operate the door handle with Vega still in his arms. He carried her into the office and gently lowered her onto one of the couches.

"There you are," he said. "Are you sure you don't need a doctor?"

Vega used a hand to check her face for blood. Finding none, she said, "I'm fine, honestly."

McIntyre crouched in front of her and brushed some of her messed up hair out of her face. She saw a look of concern on his face. "Are you sure, Zel? That was some punch."

Vega took his hand to reassure him. At least, that was the reason she told herself she had done it. She was lying to herself. Holding his hand and having his face so close to hers had her feeling sexual tension in a way she hadn't done for quite some time. She realised she was going to kiss him. She couldn't help it.

As Vega leaned forward slightly, the office door crashed open, ruining the moment instantly. The rest of the cartel filed into the room, complaining about Rousey and asking if Vega was okay.

"We'll pick this up another time," McIntyre told her quietly, desire burning in his eyes.


	15. Chapter 15

Zelina Vega was grateful for the fact that the drawing of entrance numbers for the Elimination Chamber matches was being televised as a part of the pay-per-view for the first time. It gave her the chance to see first-hand if her plan was going to work out.

So as to not to start people speculating about whether she had rigged the draw, Vega had put her Deputy General Manager in charge of it. But rig the draw she had. Alexa Bliss had a clear instruction to allow McIntyre to draw his plastic ball from the tombola first, and he had been told to pick the heaviest one. Inside would be the number six, allowing him to enter the match last, giving him the best chance of winning the Universal Championship.

Watching on the big TV in her office, Vega saw all six competitors standing in the office that had been prepared especially for the draws. Earlier in the night, Smackdown had already held theirs. Now it was Raw's turn, and Bliss was turning the handle to rotate the tombola.

"Drew, why don't you start us off?" she suggested when she was done. She opened the hatch on the front of the drum for him.

Saying nothing, McIntyre stepped forward and reached into the machine. He rummaged around for a moment before settling on the plastic ball he wanted to select. He removed it and handed it to Bliss.

The Deputy GM unscrewed the plastic ball and removed the paper slip from inside. She opened it out, looked at the number and held it up for the camera to zoom in on. "Drew McIntyre draws number six."

"Of course he does," Finn Balor muttered in the background.

In her office, Vega had an evil smile on her face. Scepticism from the other competitors or not, her plan had worked out perfectly. If there was a set of circumstances she could have put together for McIntyre's last chance at the Universal title, this would have been it. Last into the match, he would be the freshest, and hopefully only have one or two opponents left to get through. If they got really lucky, someone might even beat Brock Lesnar before Drew had to contend with him.

"Yes, tonight is the night," Vega told herself. She felt sure of it.

* * *

Due to being the last man to enter to the match, McIntyre was the first to enter the arena when the time came. Although she couldn't go inside the chamber, and wouldn't have wanted to, Vega was not going to miss the opportunity to watch the match from ringside. This win was going to be her chosen one's crowning achievement, and she was going to be there to share it with him.

When they entered the arena, Vega kept her mouth shut, simply walking beside McIntyre and posing with him in front of the stage. She knew she didn't need to say anything to fire him up. He was already fully prepared and fully focused on what he needed to do. This was the biggest match of his life, and if he failed, it might be the biggest match he ever had in his career. But failure wasn't an option.

They walked down the aisle towards the enormous, intimidating chamber. Looking up at it, Vega found herself hoping that, win or lose, Drew came out the match uninjured. There was scope for some seriously barbaric violence inside that chamber, and there was no guarantee that he would be the one on the issuing end of it.

When they reached the entrance to the chamber, McIntyre looked down at her with a burning intensity in his eyes. "I'm not leaving this damn chamber without that title," he vowed.

Vega put as much conviction into her tone and expression as she possibly could. "I know you're not. This is the night, Drew. This is the night!"

With that, McIntyre strode into the chamber, where a referee pointed him to the pod he was going to inhabit until the time came from entrant number six to join the match. Vega walked around the outside of the chamber, just able to squeeze between the steel and the ringside barrier, until she was standing near to McIntyre's pod. The pods had little gaps at the sides, and that meant they would be able to communicate with each other as the contest progressed.

As far as she could remember, Vega had never felt this fired up before. Sure, she had been up for big occasions. Many times on NXT she had managed Andrade Almas in NXT Championship matches, and she had more recently managed Seth Rollins in a couple of Intercontinental title bouts. But this was something else altogether. This was do or die, and it was for the biggest prize in wrestling.

"Come on," she muttered under her breath, praying for luck to be on her side on this night of all nights.

* * *

"Okay, Drew, any minute now!" Vega yelled at her client.

If there had been room inside the pod, McIntyre might have been pacing around like a caged animal. As it was, it looked like he was ready to tear the first person he got his hands on limb from limb. The time for him to enter the match was almost at hand, and only two opponents remained: Finn Balor and Brock Lesnar.

Having drawn number five, Lesnar had left his pod and joined the match in one of his most destructive moods. At the time of his entry, there had been no eliminations. Two minutes later, Elias, Lashley and Braun Strowman were all hitting the showers courtesy of the reigning champion's F5. As far as Vega was concerned, that just meant the field had been thinned out, making McIntyre's job easier.

The ten second countdown started on the big screen for the final time. McIntyre limbered up, waiting to be unleashed from his pod.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ring, Finn Balor was climbing up to the top of what had originally been Elias's pod. In front of him, Lesnar lay prone on the canvas.

Ignoring the countdown, the Irishman leapt into the air, coming crashing down feet first onto Lesnar's chest. The crowd conveyed their shock at the devastating move.

As McIntyre's count down reached three, Balor made a cover and the referee got down to attempt a three count of his own. The fans opted to join in with the referee.

"One!"

"Two!"

Lesnar kicked out. In the same moment, a buzzer sounded. McIntyre was allowed to be released from his pod.

"Come on! Open the stupid door!" Vega yelled at the incompetent idiot referee who standing next to her, trying to get the pod unlocked.

The door came open and McIntyre charged out of the pod, through the ropes and into the ring.

Following Lesnar's kick out, Balor was just getting to his feet. He was too late to react to McIntyre's arrival, catching a Claymore that nearly took his head off before he even had a chance to react.

"Yes! Yes!" Vega screamed in delight, waiting for the cover. When it came, she emphatically raised her fingers in time with the count.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

Just like that, the match was down to two participants. Either Lesnar would retain his title or McIntyre would become the new Universal Champion.

Like a man possessed, McIntyre showed no interest in wasting time celebrating Balor's elimination. He got straight up and took up a position behind Lesnar, roaring at him to get up.

Watching on, Vega had to admire the resilience that Lesnar had. A Coupe de Grace from the top of that pod would have put almost anyone else down for ten, let alone three, but Lesnar was getting up from it. This was the exact reason she had hoped to have him out of the way before McIntyre entered the match. But then Lesnar had gone and drawn number five, putting an end to that prospect.

Often, Lesnar's matches were extremely fast paced and hard hitting as his opponents felt the need to hit him with finishing moves before Brock himself hit them with his brutal F5 or German suplexes. With that in mind, Vega fully understood why McIntyre was lining up for a Claymore, wanting to put the match to bed as soon as possible.

As McIntyre sprinted forward, everything seemed to go into slow motion for Vega. Drew launched himself into the air. With absolute precision, his outstretched foot impacted Lesnar's jaw, snapping his head back. Both men fell to the mat.

'Oh my god, he's done it,' Vega thought, waiting wide-eyed for the count.

McIntyre crawled quickly into a cover and hooked Lesnar's leg.

"One!"

"Two!"

Lesnar kicked out.

Vega felt like sinking to her knees in despair. She had really thought that was it. No one kicked out of the Claymore. Yet, somehow, Lesnar had managed to do so. She saw McIntyre pounding the mat in frustration. It told her that she needed to stop standing there looking dumbstruck and get her man's mind back on the game.

"Hit him again! Hit him again!" she screamed.

McIntyre looked over at her, grabbing two fistfuls of his hair and crying out in rage.

"Hit him again!" Vega yelled for a third time, remonstrating with him to get his focus back.

The message got through. McIntyre walked over to stand across the ring from Lesnar and began stalking him as he got up. Despite already having taken two finishing moves, Lesnar was getting back to his feet.

Vega clenched her fists at her sides, willing McIntyre on. He sprinted forwards for a second time and leapt into the air.

This time, Lesnar saw McIntyre coming and was able to adjust, catching the Scot on his shoulders in the perfect position for an F5. Yelling due to the effort involved, Lesnar hit his finishing move.

"No!" Vega cried in despair, putting her head in her hands.

Lesnar rolled into a cover.

"One!"

"Two!"

McIntyre got a shoulder up, to the surprise of Lesnar and the crowd, and the delight of Vega. She had no doubt how tough McIntyre was, but even so she could hardly believe what had just happened. Kicking out was one thing, though. The question was how much damage had the F5 done?

Lesnar clearly believed the end was nigh, and that he was about to retain his title. He stood up, then hauled McIntyre to his feet before manhandling him up onto his shoulders for a second time.

Knowing that a second F5 would definitely mean the end, Vega wanted to look away. Something made her keep watching, though. It felt like watching a car wreck about to happen.

However, before Lesnar was able to hit the F5, McIntyre elbowed him in the side of the head, and then again a second time. Stunned, Lesnar was unable to keep hold of his opponent, who was able to slide down his back, into a standing position.

When Lesnar spun around, McIntyre hit him with a Future Shock DDT. Revitalised, he didn't even attempt a cover. Instead, he jumped back to his feet and lined up a Claymore for a third time. It looked to be a wise decision, for Lesnar was getting up again, even after taking yet another powerful move.

McIntyre ran in again, and connected with a Claymore for a second time in as many minutes.

"Surely," Vega said under her breath, begging Lesnar to stay down as the cover was made.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

"Oh my god!" Vega cried. He had done it! McIntyre was actually the Universal Champion! His music was playing, and he was looking over at her, with an expression as shocked as hers probably was. They had both believed he could do it, but the reality of it was still hard to take in.

"Here is your winner," Jojo announced, "and the new WWE Universal Champion, Drew McIntyre!"

Vega wanted to get in the ring to celebrate with McIntyre, but she couldn't as yet. The chamber was being raised painfully slowly, and was only a few inches off the ground.

The referee who had been outside the chamber, in charge of opening the pods had walked over to the timekeeper's area and fetched the Universal Championship belt. He was standing near to Vega, also waiting for the chamber to be raised.

Vega walked over to him and held out her hand. "I'll take that," she demanded.

With no objection, the referee handed her the belt. It was now in her possession; the possession of her cartel. What an incredible achievement. She had never felt as proud of someone as she did of Drew McIntyre in that moment.

Finally, the chamber was raised clear of the bottom rope. Vega climbed into the ring and hurried over to McIntyre, who was now standing, his hand having just been raised by the referee.

McIntyre yanked his hand away from the referee and embraced Vega as she rushed up to him with the belt.

"You did it! You're the champion!" she cried. "You really did it!"

"I told you I would," McIntyre replied, laughing in delight.

They parted, and Vega handed over the newly-won belt to the champion. McIntyre raised it proudly, and she raised his other hand, pointing to him in celebration. Unsurprisingly, they were booed for the display, but she couldn't have cared less.

"I believe this means you owe me a date," McIntyre said next, catching her by surprise. The fact that going on a date with her was on his mind so soon after the biggest achievement of his career told her how important it was to him, and that meant a lot to her.

"A date it is," she promised him. "Tonight, we celebrate with the group. We can't leave them out. But tomorrow night after Raw, we'll go somewhere just the two of us."

McIntyre smiled down at her. "Sounds like a plan. Now let's rub this in the faces of these morons."

Vega laughed and raised his hand again. "There's the man right there! Just like I told you! We're going to Wrestlemania!" she shouted at the fans. She figured it was the perfect way to end a pay-per-view.


	16. Chapter 16

Prior to Elimination Chamber, Zelina had promised Drew that if he won the Universal Championship, she would go on a date with him. A real date, not a couple of drinks in a hotel bar. What she hadn't promised was when the date would happen.

Backstage, after the elation of the victory had started to wear off, Vega had realised that Sunday night hadn't been the right time to go out and celebrate. Tempting though it had been to go and enjoy herself, she knew that the next night on Raw was going to be a huge night for The Vega Cartel. The Rock, having guaranteed himself a title shot at Wrestlemania by winning the Royal Rumble, would almost certainly be at Raw.

Then there was Bayley, who was set to compete for the Raw Women's Championship at Wrestlemania. The current champion was Ronda Rousey, and that troubled Vega greatly. As talented and now as vicious as Bayley could be, Rousey was a machine. There was no denying it. She was undefeated in nearly a year. Somehow, a plan had to be put together to get Bayley that win.

Seth Rollins' situation also required attention. Vega was well aware that she couldn't allow McIntyre's Universal title victory to dominate her thinking. The Intercontinental Championship was also in the Cartel's possession, and she had every intention of keeping it that way, up to Wrestlemania and beyond.

Lastly, the Raw Tag Team Championships had to be considered. Of all the titles Vega had to think about, they were probably the least problematic. As Raw General Manager, it was within her power to grant Tommaso Ciampa and Baron Corbin a title shot at Wrestlemania, and that was exactly what she was going to do.

After a night of strategising, Vega arrived at the arena for Raw with the rest of her people, feeling prepared for the weeks ahead. She had brought with her several pages of hand-written notes in a leather bound notepad, detailing her strategy to have every member of her Cartel leave Wrestlemania with gold around their waists.

Entering the arena, Vega figured they were probably just in time for the start of Raw. Her intention was to lead the group out to the ring, giving them the opportunity to celebrate McIntyre's fantastic success in front of the fans, rubbing it in their stupid faces. Unfortunately, the annoying Charly Caruso had other ideas.

"Guys, excuse me," the interviewer said as she hurried up to them. "I was hoping to get a word with Drew McIntyre, the new WWE Universal Champion."

Looking up at McIntyre, Vega exchanged an incredulous look with her star man, her champion. He appeared as stunned as she was by Caruso's impertinence.

"Do I look invisible to you, Charly?" Zelina demanded.

"No. Sorry, I just…"

"I don't care what you just," Vega cut in, barking angrily at her. "If you have something to say to a member of The Vega Cartel, you say it to me. Is that in any way unclear?"

"No ma'am," Caruso said humbly. "Could you tell me what Drew McIntyre's thoughts are regarding the fact that as champion he is now going on to Wrestlemania, where he will face The Rock for the Universal Championship?"

"What his thoughts are," Vega said, speaking each word slowly as if trying to comprehend how such a stupid question could have been asked. "What I suggest to you is you should go find a little monitor to watch, and listen along with everyone else, because we're going out to the ring and everyone is going to find out what my thoughts are."

Vega led the way past the interviewer, with each Cartel member giving her evils as they walked by.

"We do have a plan for The Rock, right?" McIntyre quietly asked Vega once they were away from the interviewer and her intrusive microphone.

Looking up at him again, Vega gave him a knowing smile. "I always have a plan. You know that by now."

McIntyre glanced back to check that his teammates were busy talking to each other as they walked. "And do you have a plan for the date you promised me?" he asked, content that she would be the only one to hear the question.

Kind of pushy, Vega thought. But in a way, she liked that. He was very eager for the date, as was she. She wasn't going to reveal that fact to him though, if she could help it. "Now is not the time. Not in front of the group," she sternly.

"Yes, boss," Drew replied with a cocky smile that made something stir inside Vega.

Pushing her sexual attraction for McIntyre out of her mind, Vega noticed as the group approached Gorilla that the production crew had just started playing their music, obviously on the back of what she had said to Caruso. Perfect, she thought. The Vega Cartel rightfully had the honour of opening Raw.

Walking through Gorilla, Vega could already hear booing in the arena. How tiresome, she thought with an inward sigh. With McIntyre by her side, she walked through the curtain into the arena and the booing intensified.

"They can boo all they want, it's not going to change the fact that I'm the champ," Drew said to her.

Vega laughed, approving of the comment. "Right," she said as they walked over to the top of the entrance ramp.

As ever, the Cartel assembled in a line, standing behind their leader. McIntyre and Rollins, the two champions of the group, were the ones directly behind her. Although she obviously couldn't see the image they presented to the audience, she felt confident that it projected the dominance she and her people had over Monday Night Raw.

Shortly, The Vega Cartel had entered the ring. As their music faded out, being replaced by more booing, Bayley fetched a microphone and handed it to her leader.

"I did tell you all," Vega opened with, a smug smile on her face. Everyone in the arena knew she was referring to McIntyre's victory, and booed her for throwing it in their faces.

Emphasising Vega's comment, McIntyre stood beside her and held the Universal title aloft, receiving applause from his teammates.

"As promised," Zelina continued, "Drew McIntyre won the Universal Championship last night, and Seth Rollins retained the Intercontinental Championship. My plan for The Vega Cartel's complete dominance over Monday Night Raw is progressing exactly as planned."

Boos continued to rain down. Sometimes they got under Vega's skin and she snapped at crowds. Not tonight, though. Tonight was a night to savour success. She held up her leather bound notepad before continuing. "On this notepad is a strategy I spent most of last night fine-tuning. It will ensure that by the time Wrestlemania is over, every one of these superstars you see around me will have championship gold in their possession. Drew McIntyre will retain the Universal Championship. Seth Rollins will retain the Intercontinental Championship. Bayley will win the Raw Women's Championship. And Tommaso Ciampa and Baron Corbin will win the Raw Tag Team Championships. You can sit there booing all you want, but you and I both know the reason you're doing it is that you know I'm right. When Zelina Vega says something is going to happen..."

"If you smell..."

The fans erupted at the intro to The Rock's music. Infuriated at the interruption, Vega turned to face the stage. Beside her, McIntyre stepped forward, ready to be the first one into the line of fire if Rock rushed the ring.

It didn't happen. Receiving a standing ovation, the so-called people's champion walked out onto the stage, looking down towards the ring from behind his sunglasses. He didn't look impressed with what he saw, which further annoyed Vega. How could he not recognise the greatness that stood before him?

A 'Rocky' chant filled the arena even before his music faded out. Vega happened to make eye contact with Ciampa, and they both shook their heads in annoyance. What was it about this guy that made people love him so much? Vega couldn't understand it.

Vega rolled her eyes when The Rock began by pandering to the crowd, announcing that 'finally' he had come back to their dump of a city. With that done, he turned his attention to the leader of The Vega Cartel.

"Zelina Vega, The Rock says this: With you in charge, Raw seems to be developing something of a pattern. Week after week, you come out here, stand in the ring with your bunch of jabronies, and you run your mouth. You stand there with your little notepad, talking about your strategy for The Vega Cartel at Wrestlemania. Well, The Rock says he has a strategy of his own for right here tonight."

Vega looked at McIntyre and Rollins, not liking where things might be going. The fans seemed to have the opposite opinion. Also sensing what might be coming, they were chanting The Rock's name again.

Waiting for the noise to die down, The Rock looked out at the fans who were going crazy for him. Eventually, he had the chance to speak again.

"Vega, The Rock's strategy is to take that notepad, shine the cover up real nice, turn it sideways, and stick it straight up your candy ass!"

The fans roaring their approval only served to bring Vega's blood to boiling point even faster. She wasn't the only one. McIntyre took her microphone from her and yelled at The Rock, "Why don't you come down here and say that to her face?"

The challenge didn't seem to phase Rock for a second. "If The Rock did come does come down there and say it to her face, what are you going to do about it?"

"I'll tell you what..."

"It doesn't matter what you're going to do about it!" The Rock shouted, sending the crowd into a frenzy again.

Interrupted and humiliated, McIntyre was livid. He dropped the microphone and started taking off his jacket, wanting a fight right then and there. Vega totally understood his anger.

"Vega," Rock went on, "You can come up with all the strategies you want. The fact of the matter is that come Wrestlemania, you can bring Drew McIntyre, you can bring Seth Rollins, you can even bring whoever those other two candy asses are. When The Rock walks into MetLife Stadium, it doesn't matter how many Cartel members you bring, it'll be boots to asses time."

Vega cringed as her adversary brought the promo to an end by yelling at the top of his voice his nonsense catchphrase about smelling what he was cooking. From where she was standing, it smelled distinctly unpalatable.

With the fans cheering and The Rock's music playing, Vega led her people from the ring to the back. She didn't say anything to any of them, such was her focus on keeping her anger in check.

More than an hour went by before Drew found the courage to approach her. Rollins and Corbin were out in the ring in a tag team match, and Bayley had decided to join the commentators for it, wanting to talk up her upcoming Wrestlemania match. It left McIntyre and Vega as the only two in the plush General Manager's office.

"We've got to resist letting that guy get under our skin," Drew offered as he sat down beside Zelina on one of the leather couches. Bearing in mind her fiery nature when angered, he respectfully gave her space.

Vega looked at him and managed a thin smile. He was right. "The Rock can talk all he wants," she said. "Talking isn't going to win him the Universal title. He's going to have to beat you in the ring to do that, and I don't see that happening."

"It's not happening," he promised. "I won the Universal Championship, and I'm not letting it go. But speaking of winning it, I believe a date was promised beforehand?"

Vega laughed at the fact he would bring the date up at this moment, for the second time in the night. But he had been promised a date. Maybe a chance to unwind would be a good thing for both of them? "A date was promised," she said with a smile. "You may take me out tonight. Find somewhere nice."

"I was hoping you would say that. I already have a place in mind."

They maintained eye contact, and Zelina felt her stomach flutter and her heart rate pick up. He was such a handsome, strong, tough man. She realised that Drew wasn't the only one looking forward to the date. Actually, she couldn't wait.


	17. Chapter 17

Zelina Vega was a self-admitted control freak. Putting any aspect of her life in someone else's hands made her feel distinctly uncomfortable, and that included letting Drew McIntyre choose the location for their date. She asked herself why she had challenged him to pick the place. What had possessed her to do that? It was too late to change things now, though. Wearing a white dress that was just the right kind of revealing, she was ready to go down to the hotel's lobby to meet her date.

After a final glance in the mirror to confirm she was happy with the way she looked, she picked up her clutch purse from the bed and left the room. A couple of minutes later, she was emerging from an elevator into the hotel's lobby. She found Drew standing there waiting for her, dressed in a light grey shirt and dark blue jeans. Even dressed in that semi-casual way, she found him strikingly handsome.

"Good evening," Drew said smoothly, laying on the charm.

"Good evening," she replied formally, unable to stop herself smiling broadly.

"That such a beautiful smile," he said. "We should see it more often."

"Only a privileged few get to see it," Zelina said. "So, where are you taking me?"

"You'll find out when we get there."

Zelina genuinely didn't like surprises, but she knew she had to be good-natured about it. "Tell me now," she pouted.

"Not a chance. You're not the boss when we're dating, only at work."

"Is that a fact?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, it is. Shall we go?" He offered her his arm so that she could link hers through it.

Zelina laughed, considering the almost ridiculous height difference between them. "Somehow, I don't think that's going to work."

"Maybe you're right," Drew said with a smile of his own.

They walked to the hotel's parking garage, where Drew's hire car was waiting.

"You know it's not a good way to start a date by refusing to do as your date asks," Zelina said coyly as they got into the car.

Drew started the car and began slowly driving towards the garage's exit. "Hmm. I actually take a different view," he said. "I don't think it would be a good start to a date to show that I can be pushed around that easily. I think someone like Zelina Vega prefers a man who stands his ground."

Zelina laughed heartily. "Zelina Vega likes a man who stands his ground, but not against Zelina Vega."

"Ah, I see," Drew said, also laughing while he waited for an opportunity to pull out of the garage into traffic.

As far as starts to a date went, this was very good, Zelina thought. They were enjoying each other's company and making each other laugh. That was how things continued during the ten minute drive to the restaurant that Drew had selected for them.

"This is us," he announced, slowing down as they approached the place. "I hope it's good. The reviews were."

To get to the parking lot, they had to drive past the restaurant. Zelina got a look inside, and saw that it was busy despite the lateness of the hour. That was a good sign. "You did check if they have vegan options?" she asked.

"Of course," Drew said with a smile. "I started off looking for specialist vegan restaurants. I was going to let you try and convert me to the dark side, but there weren't any with good reviews anywhere nearby."

"The dark side," Zelina said with a grunt of a laugh. "Tell me that when your arteries are blocked up with fat."

"You've seen me in my ring attire. There's not an ounce of fat on my body," he countered.

I can't argue with that, Zelina thought, loving the mental image that came to mind. Luckily, her lapse into thought coincided with Drew concentrating on backing the car into a parking spot, so he didn't notice.

Shortly, they were seated at a table for two near the back of the restaurant. Looking around, Zelina felt content with her surroundings. The restaurant was clean, appeared to have been refurbished relatively recently, and the other customers seemed to be enjoying their dining experiences. There were no unhappy faces that she could see.

"I don't drink often, but I think I'll have a beer," Drew said as they settled in at the table. "Only one, though, because of the driving."

Zelina was looking at a drinks menu. "Yeah," she grinned. "You're definitely driving. They have vegan wine."

A server approached momentarily and took their drinks order. Before long, Zelina had a glass of wine in hand, and she used it to propose a toast. "To the Universal Champion."

Drew smiled and raised his beer glass. "To the boss."

Toasting each other, they both drank. "That's really nice wine," Zelina said, putting her glass down.

"We've come a long way, haven't we?" Drew said. "It wasn't all that long ago we were exchanging heated words in NXT, when you were managing Almas."

"It wasn't personal," Zelina said simply. "You had the NXT title, and I wanted it. If you want the truth, of all the people I managed Andrade against, you were the one who worried me the most. If you hadn't gotten injured in that title match, I'm not sure he would have beaten you that night."

"Everything happens for a reason," he said coolly, reading a menu as he spoke. "It's in the past now, and anyway, I came back from that injury and got signed to Raw."

"Not your first time there, of course," she commented.

Drew grunted at his own expense. "No, but my first time with the right kind of attitude. I can't even tell you how I ended up wasting my first shot in WWE by coming out every week pretending to be in a band. It was pathetic. It was stupid. I never should have had anything to do with that idiot Heath Slater or Jinder Mahal."

"There's no arguing with that," Zelina said, scanning over her menu. "What matters is that you're doing things properly this time around. That's why you're at the top of the mountain, and why you'll be staying there."

"You're a big part of my success," he replied frankly. "Without you, I don't think I'd be Universal Champion yet. You're such a good strategist, and an incredible motivator."

Appreciating the compliments, Zelina raised her wine glass. "Thank you. I can drink to that."

They toasted and drank for a second time, as their server returned to take their food orders.

"So how did you get into this business?" Drew asked Zelina once their orders were in and the server had departed. "The first time I had ever heard of you was when you showed up at NXT, reading the riot act to Almas."

"I was a business associate of his before he became a wrestler. Basically, I ran his company for him. But then he closed it down to pursue a wrestling career. I was angry with him, and we didn't speak for a long time. Then I saw him on NXT, fooling around and wasting the opportunity he'd been given."

"So you stepped in," Drew finished.

"Precisely. I saw an opportunity for him, and one for myself. I came to NXT determined to bring success to both of us."

"A bit like when you went for the Raw GM job. Seeing opportunity for yourself, I mean."

"Right," Zelina smiled. "I honestly didn't think I would get the job. But I did, and now look at how things have panned out. Some people are shepherds, Drew, and others are sheep. The Vega Cartel? We're Raw's shepherds."

"There's something about hearing you talk like that," he said, opting not to finish the thought. Even so, his meaning was perfectly clear. It was the first flirtatious comment of the night.

Zelina now had the choice of how to play things. She could let the comment slide by as if it had gone unnoticed, or she could respond to it in kind. Ordinarily, she would have gone for the former. However, it had been so long since she had been on a date that she couldn't even remember when the last one had been, so occupied had she been with work. She hadn't had sex in ages. That thought alone started firing her sex drive up. To hell with being a good girl, she thought. That wasn't the Vega style anyway.

"You like a woman to be in charge, is that it?" she enquired over her wine glass, openly flirting back.

"Don't know. I haven't met one capable before," Drew replied. "I'm thinking that may have changed, though."

"You'd better believe it," she said with a sultry smile.

The flirting was left there, and the conversation flowed freely over the meal. But neither of them had been able to get the exchange out of their heads. They were both sending out the right kind of vibes, and it had created a feeling of sexual tension between them.

By the time the meal was consumed and they were driving back to the hotel, Zelina knew she was going to invite him into her room when they got there. Putting away most of the bottle of wine had made that an easier decision to come to.

"You can choose the restaurant next time we go out," she said. "The food was incredible there."

"I'm glad you liked it," Drew said before glancing at her. "Next time we go out?"

"Yeah," Zelina said, confirming that she did indeed want to date him again.

"I'll look forward to it then," he said. "Tonight has been the best night I've had in a very long time."

It's not over yet, Zelina thought, stopping short of actually saying it. She wasn't going to be that forward, thinking that he mind find it a bit much.

When they got back to the hotel, Drew did the gentlemanly thing and got out of the elevator on Zelina's floor, wanting to walk her right back to her room. It saved her having to push the issue.

"Here's where we say goodnight," Drew said as they stopped outside of her door.

Using her key card to unlock the door, Zelina picked up on disappointment that he was trying to conceal. Opening the door, she turned around and backed into it to stop it closing again. "Doesn't have to be," she said, looking up at him.

"Is that so?" Drew stepped forward and leaned down for a kiss.

Zelina allowed him no more than a peck on the lips before grabbing two fistfuls of his shirt. "Yes, it is," she said, pulling him into the room.


	18. Chapter 18

The origin of the saying 'on cloud nine' was a mystery to Vega. Nonetheless, she found it on her mind while waiting with McIntyre in Gorilla, moments before their entrance for the main event of Wrestlemania. Right now, she figured, she was probably on cloud eight, if that was a thing. Her life could only be made better by Drew successfully defeating The Rock to retain the Universal Championship. Earlier in the night, Seth Rollins had retained the Intercontinental title, Corbin and Ciampa had won the Raw Tag Team Championships and Bayley had won the Raw Women's Championship. So far, it had literally been a perfect night for The Vega Cartel.

Wrestlemania wasn't the only thing Zelina had to be happy about. In recent weeks, she had been spending a lot of her free time with Drew. The night he had taken her out to a restaurant and they had ended up sleeping with other had started a relationship that so far had been intense and fiery, just the way Vega liked things. If he was successful in the upcoming match, there would be more of that fire to come later in the night.

Looking up at McIntyre, Vega saw a man prepared to do battle in the biggest match of his career. Much as she disliked The Rock, Zelina knew better than to allow Drew to disrespect him or take him lightly. Rocky was one of the best wrestlers of all time, and even though he hadn't wrestled in years, he would be a formidable opponent to defeat.

Out in the arena, The Rock was making his entrance. Predictably, the sheep in the stadium were going crazy for him. It made Vega want to roll her eyes, but she couldn't allow herself to be distracted by them. There could only be one focus: victory.

"We're going to do this," McIntyre said angrily, hyped up for the match.

"Yes we are!" Vega fired back with intensity. "You are going to do this! You're going to give The Rock the ass kicking of a lifetime! He's going to regret ever coming back to WWE by the time you're done with him. You're going to take his head off his shoulders with a Claymore!" With each sentence, she had gotten louder and more aggressive, knowing exactly how to motivate her man.

The Rock's music faded out. When McIntyre's music hit, it was greeted by aggressive booing from the crowd. Vega considered that a good thing. The Cartel were hated because the fans feared them. They had seen perfectly clearly throughout the night that the Cartel members were the real deal, having won every match they had been involved in. Whether they wanted it to happen or not, the fans could picture a scenario where McIntyre emerged victorious and every title on Raw was in the possession of Vega's group. It was an abhorrent outcome as far as they were concerned, but it was the stuff dreams were made of for Zelina.

Walking out into MetLife Stadium, it was impossible not to feel breath-taken at the sight of such a colossal sea of humanity. What a feat it would be to put all of those people in their places when she and Drew closed the show with the Universal Championship still in their possession. She would milk that moment for all it was worth.

Posing at the top of the ramp, McIntyre kept his focus on The Rock, a look of determination on his face. Since there was a camera right in front of them getting a close up, Vega decided to send a message to the audience of millions watching around the world. Pointing at McIntyre, she yelled, "He's coming in as champion, and he's leaving as champion!"

They made their way down the huge entrance ramp to the ring. Vega realised that she had never been this hyped up for a match in her life. Even though she wasn't competing, the outcome meant more to her than she could have put into words.

Entering the ring, they posed facing the hard camera. McIntyre raised the title belt in the air, hopefully not for the last time. With that, they were obliged to retreat to a corner of the ring while the ring announcements were made by Greg Hamilton. Vega kept a wary eye on The Rock on the opposite side of the ring, just in case he decided to try something.

"This contest is set for one fall, and it is for the WWE Universal Championship! Introducing first, the challenger, from Miami, Florida, weighing two hundred and seventy five pounds, The Rock!"

Zelina glared at the challenger as another loud cheer went up in support of him.

"And his opponent, from…"

Vega whipped the microphone out of Hamilton's hand. She wasn't going to allow him the privilege of announcing her client. The fact that she was booed came as no surprise, and she paid no attention. "And his opponent," she shouted, "from Ayr, Scotland, the Scottish Psychopath, the current, and future, WWE Universal Champion, Drew McIntyre!"

Announcements made, the referee ordered Vega to get out of the ring. As she complied, she heard McIntyre and The Rock come to blows for the first time as the bell sounded. With no time wasted, the match was underway.

* * *

Vega felt like her heart had been beating a mile a minute throughout the match, which she estimated must have been going on for twenty minutes already. Both men had gotten several two counts, but none of them had been particularly close to three.

With her encouragement from ringside, McIntyre had dominated the past couple of minutes of the contest. For the first time, she sensed that The Rock was genuinely struggling. Drew was able to hit a powerslam, good for another two count.

"Drew! Now! Claymore!" she screamed at him.

Heading her instruction, McIntyre got up and lined up The Rock from across the ring, ready for when he made it back to his feet.

It took The Rock a moment to groggily get up. As he turned to face McIntyre, the Scot ran across the ring, intent on hitting his finishing move.

To Vega's horror, she watched Rocky spring into action, catching McIntyre in position for a Rock Bottom. He had been playing possum, suckering Drew in.

Everything started going in slow motion for Zelina as the move was delivered. She saw her man take the devastating impact. Around her, the crowd leapt to their feet, cheering for what they assumed and hoped would be a new champion. The Rock made a cover. Zelina wanted to interfere and distract the referee, but she felt rooted to the spot, hands on her head in anguish.

"One!"

"Two!"

McIntyre kicked out at the last moment. Vega could hardly believe it. It felt like her heart had stopped beating. The danger wasn't over, either. Drew had managed to kick out, but the Rock Bottom had done a lot of damage. The upper hand now belonged to The Rock, who, like Drew moments earlier, was up and poised, ready to strike.

Barely knowing where he was, Drew got up. Setting eyes on The Rock, he launched into a run.

"No!" Vega screamed frantically, but it was too late. The mistake had been made.

The Rock scooped McIntyre up and hit a spinebuster, leaving the champion flat on his back in the middle of the ring.

Distraught, Zelina knew there was more to come. She had to do something, or Drew was going to lose his championship for sure. So soon after a Rock Bottom, the People's Elbow would finish anyone off.

With the fans going nuts, The Rock stood next to McIntyre's head. Slowly peeling off his elbow pad, he threw it out into the crowd. After pointing to both ropes, he set off running. He rebounded off the ropes on the left hand side of the ring, then went running towards the right side.

Vega had climbed up to top rope. In a desperate attempt to stop The Rock hitting his finisher, she launched herself into the air, going for a cross body. Even before she hit him, she knew the plan had gone wrong. Instead of being knocked down by the impact when she hit him, Rocky stopped running and caught her. She was now trapped in his arms, with no idea what he was going to do with her.

Zelina felt The Rock turning around, then heard a loud crack from some kind of impact. Rocky was falling, taking her down with him. They hit the floor, and Vega bounced off him, towards the ropes. Looking across the ring, she saw McIntyre making a cover. She realised he must have hit a Claymore!

"One!"

"Two!"

The Rock's shoulder popped up off the canvas just before the referee's hand could strike the mat for the third time. So close! Vega could barely believe it. No one kicked out of the Claymore.

"Get out of the ring, Zelina!" the referee shouted, walking over in her direction. The last thing she wanted was to distract the official now, when Drew had the upper hand, so she scooted out under the bottom rope.

Both men were getting up at the same time. When they regained their feet, McIntyre threw a punch that would have knocked Rock's lights out if it landed. But it didn't. The Rock ducked it and got in position to hit a second Rock Bottom.

This time, McIntyre managed to counter with a couple of stiff elbows to the side of the challenger's head, sending The Rock staggering over to a corner of the ring.

Vega watched as Rocky put his hands on the top rope to stop any kind of impact, then turned around, right into a Claymore. The crowd groaned in shock, but Zelina found herself praying. Surely a second Claymore had to be enough? "Cover him!" she screamed frantically, pounding the mat with her hand.

Quickly, McIntyre got down and made a cover, hooking the leg.

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!"

"Oh my God!" Vega yelled ecstatically. He had actually done it. Drew McIntyre had beaten The Rock! Every Vega Cartel member was a champion! Although she had never doubted it was possible, she could scarcely believe that it was true. What a monumental achievement. And she was the mastermind behind all of it.

As she got into the ring to celebrate with her victorious man, she found herself feeling literally giddy at what her people had managed to accomplish. It was the kind of night that could only be dreamed about.

The referee had retrieved the Universal Championship. There was no way Vega was going to stand there and watch him present it to her champion. She snatched it from him and rushed over to Drew, who had made it back to his feet despite looking utterly exhausted.

The fact that they were dating was known only to the two of them, so she couldn't run into his arms. Instead, she beamed at him as she gave him the title. "You did it! You beat The Rock!" she exclaimed.

Accepting the title belt, McIntyre gave her an exhausted smile. "I did it. No, we did it," he said as he tried to get his breath back. "This is for you, Zelina. This win is for you."

Vega badly wanted to hug him, but she stopped herself. "Thank you," she said in a heartfelt manner. "You're the Universal Champion, and you're my champion."

With that, they posed together in celebration. Zelina raised Drew's hand and pointed to him as he held the belt up in his other hand, rubbing it in the faces of the fans, exactly as she had envisaged it. A pyro display started going off on the stage.

What a way to end Wrestlemania, Vega thought triumphantly. She could imagine the commentators saying something about The Vega Cartel being on top of the world. And it was true, they really were on top of the world.


	19. Chapter 19

Prior to Raw going live on air, The Vega Cartel were assembled in Zelina's office, lined up for her inspection. She walked slowly along the line, looking at each person in turn. Every one of them was dressed impeccably in smart business attire, and their looks were completed by having a championship belt over their right shoulder. It was almost like a military procession to celebrate an outstanding victory in battle. There could be no doubt about it, Wrestlemania had been an outstanding and unreserved success for the Cartel, and it was as much a testament to the leader as to the individuals holding the gold.

"Excellent. Perfect," Vega said once the reached McIntyre at the end of the line. She started slowly walking back down again. "Now, before we go out there to open Raw and laud our successes in the faces of all the thousands, no, millions who doubted us, I want to say how proud I am of you all. I assembled this team with the intention of one day dominating this brand. Even I didn't imagine we would make it happen this quickly. Every single title on Raw belongs to us, and with me as General Manager, it's going to stay that way.

"On behalf of us all, I want to say thank you to you," Corbin said. "It's because of your leadership that this success came to us." He broke into applause, with the rest of the group quickly joining in.

Uncharacteristically, Vega was genuinely touched. She had never given any thought to whether or not she was liked by the people she led, apart from McIntyre of course. Now she found herself smiling at the kind and respectful gesture she was receiving. Before she had the chance to blush, she quickly moved on. "Alright, we'd better get out to the ring before someone else beats us to it and steals our thunder."

In reality, there had been no danger of that. The Vega Cartel got to Gorilla a couple of minutes before Raw went live. When they arrived, they found Dolph Ziggler there, ready to go out for the first scheduled match of the night.

"Beat it," Vega told Ziggler. "Your match is going to have to wait until I'm done in the ring."

Shaking his head, Ziggler gave her a look that contained a lot less respect than she had just received from her team members. He stopped short of saying anything, though, presumably fearing starting his night out with an ass kicking.

Having heard the exchange, the production crew hit The Vega Cartel's music as soon as the commentary team had finished their introduction to the show. The post-Wrestlemania crowd, always the loudest of the year, offered them a particularly hostile reception. Zelina felt pure derision for them and their opinions. They could get as salty as they wanted, it wasn't going to change the fact that her group had all the gold.

Leading her team out onto the stage, Vega revelling in the hostile reaction that she was met with. They lined up at the top of the ramp, and she smiled smugly, picturing what a powerful and dominant image The Vega Cartel had to be: five champions standing in line, with the mastermind in front of them.

As the Cartel walked to the ring, Vega for once took pleasure in listening to Jojo's ring announcement. It took her so long to read out the list of names and their applicable honours that Zelina was in the ring with a microphone herself by the time she finished. She decided to make that her opening point. "Thank you, Jojo, you can go sit down now," she said, only to be drowned out by furious boos.

Lowering her microphone, Vega put an impatient expression on her face. She waited a few moments for them to get it out of their systems, but it showed no signs of happening. The crowd were going to boo her whether she talked or not, she realised. There was only one thing to do with that in mind: give as good as she got.

"Boo all you want," she shouted. "No one cares what you think, least of all me!" The booing intensified, but Vega was determined not to let them get the upper hand. She walked over to Corbin, who was standing at one end of her line of champions. "I want to introduce you all to some people. First, Baron Corbin and Tommaso Ciampa, the Raw Tag Team Champions."

The booing had continued to intensify, becoming the most venomous she had ever heard. Then a chant started to break out. It caught on like wildfire, and within seconds it seemed like everyone in the arena was chanting, "Fuck you, Vega!"

Standing in the middle of the ring, Zelina had to shake her head at the insolence and vulgarity. She really was dealing with the lowest dregs of humanity. They were not fit to be in her presence. "You can chant your abuse all you want!" she shouted at them. "The fact is, and you know it as well as I do, The Vega Cartel dominates Monday Night Raw. Now, I will continue my introductions," she said, moving down the line. "Next, we have Seth Rollins, the WWE Intercontinental Champion."

"That's right, baby!" Seth shouted, holding up his title belt.

Vega moved on. "Then we have Bayley. The Raw Women's Champion."

Bayley stood there with an impassive look on her face, completely blanking the boos her name received.

"And finally," Vega said with an even greater air of pride and triumphalism, "the man who defeated the so-called People's Champion to retain the WWE Universal Championship, Drew McIntyre!"

McIntyre slowly raised his championship in the air, lapping up the booing as if it was music to his ears.

"Every single member of The Vega Cartel is a champion," Zelina proclaimed. "As if there was any doubt that we were going to dominate Monday…"

She was interrupted by the familiar intro to Vince McMahon's entrance music. As the crowd went wild, Vega felt an uneasy sensation taking over her. She had to believe that the Chairman coming out and interrupting her didn't mean anything good for her.

McMahon made his way to the ring with his customary ridiculous walk and the idiots singing along to his theme song. Vega made sure to take some of the ferocity out of her expression, figuring that this might be a moment to tread carefully.

The Cartel stepped out of the way to allow the boss to swagger over to the corner of the ring and fetch a microphone. "Before I get down to business, I'd like to take a moment to thank you all for making last night's Wrestlemania the biggest and best of all time," he said to the fans, who of course cheered in response.

Standing there impatiently, Vega had no idea how she managed not to roll her eyes. Even the Chairman was pandering to the crowd these days. She found it pathetic beyond belief.

"Now, Zelina," Vince said, turning to look at her. "Congratulations are also in order for you and your Cartel. There can be no doubt about it, your group stole the show at Wrestlemania. But you see, not only is that a success, it's also a problem. As you well know, I warned you more than once after you took the job as General Manager not to make Raw all about you. Your first night on the job, you stood in this very ring and promised that your regime would be one of equal opportunities for all. I wanted to believe it then, but in time your actions have proven those words to be a lie. We stand here with all of the gold on Raw in your possession, exactly the opposite of equal opportunities for all."

"People had opportunities," Vega objected. "They lost them, and we won. That's not my fault."

McMahon looked a lot less than impressed with that argument. The truth was that they both knew he was right, and Vega had no real counter argument for the biased management she was being called out for. She was guilty as charged.

"You stacked the deck in your favour every time and every way you could," McMahon said. "It's not appropriate conduct from a General Manager. Your performance is not up to standard, and for that reason, Zelina…"

The noise in the arena rose as the fans delighted in what was about to come. Vega felt herself flinching away, putting her hands up in an instinctive defensive gesture as McMahon prepared himself to deliver the killing blow as only Vince McMahon could.

"You're fired!" he roared in her face.

END


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